Thread instruction fetch based on prioritized selection from plural round-robin outputs for different thread states

ABSTRACT

A fetch director in a multithreaded microprocessor that concurrently executes instructions of N threads is disclosed. The N threads request to fetch instructions from an instruction cache. In a given selection cycle, some of the threads may not be requesting to fetch instructions. The fetch director includes a circuit for selecting one of threads in a round-robin fashion to provide its fetch address to the instruction cache. The circuit 1-bit left rotatively increments a first addend by a second addend to generate a sum that is ANDed with the inverse of the first addend to generate a 1-hot vector indicating which of the threads is selected next. The first addend is an N-bit vector where each bit is false if the corresponding thread is requesting to fetch instructions from the instruction cache. The second addend is a 1-hot vector indicating the last selected thread. In one embodiment threads with an empty instruction buffer are selected at highest priority; a last dispatched but not fetched thread at middle priority; all other threads at lowest priority. The threads are selected round-robin within the highest and lowest priorities.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/087,063, filed Mar. 22, 2005 (now allowed), which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/051,997, filed Feb. 4, 2005, U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/051,980, filed Feb. 4, 2005, U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/051,979, filed Feb. 4, 2005, U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/051,998, filed Feb. 4, 2005 and U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/051,978, filed Feb. 4, 2005, which are hereby incorporated byreference in their entirety.

This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/087,064, filed Mar. 22, 2005, U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/087,070, filed Mar. 22, 2005 and U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/086,258, filed Mar. 22, 2005, which are hereby incorporated byreference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to the field of round-robinfairness methods, and particularly their application in fetch directorsin multithreaded microprocessors.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Microprocessor designers employ many techniques to increasemicroprocessor performance. Most microprocessors operate using a clocksignal running at a fixed frequency. Each clock cycle the circuits ofthe microprocessor perform their respective functions. According toHennessy and Patterson (see Computer Architecture: A QuantitativeApproach, 3rd Edition), the true measure of a microprocessor'sperformance is the time required to execute a program or collection ofprograms. From this perspective, the performance of a microprocessor isa function of its clock frequency, the average number of clock cyclesrequired to execute an instruction (or alternately stated, the averagenumber of instructions executed per clock cycle), and the number ofinstructions executed in the program or collection of programs.Semiconductor scientists and engineers are continually making itpossible for microprocessors to run at faster clock frequencies, chieflyby reducing transistor size, resulting in faster switching times. Thenumber of instructions executed is largely fixed by the task to beperformed by the program, although it is also affected by theinstruction set architecture of the microprocessor. Large performanceincreases have been realized by architectural and organizational notionsthat improve the instructions per clock cycle, in particular by notionsof parallelism.

One notion of parallelism that has improved the instructions per clockcycle, as well as the clock frequency, of microprocessors is pipelining,which overlaps execution of multiple instructions within pipeline stagesof the microprocessor. In an ideal situation, each clock cycle oneinstruction moves down the pipeline to a new stage, which performs adifferent function on the instruction. Thus, although each individualinstruction takes multiple clock cycles to complete, because themultiple cycles of the individual instructions overlap, the averageclocks per instruction is reduced. The performance improvements ofpipelining may be realized to the extent that the instructions in theprogram permit it, namely to the extent that an instruction does notdepend upon its predecessors in order to execute and can thereforeexecute in parallel with its predecessors, which is commonly referred toas instruction-level parallelism. Another way in which instruction-levelparallelism is exploited by contemporary microprocessors is the issuingof multiple instructions for execution per clock cycle. Thesemicroprocessors are commonly referred to as superscalar microprocessors.

What has been discussed above pertains to parallelism at the individualinstruction-level. However, the performance improvement that may beachieved through exploitation of instruction-level parallelism islimited. Various constraints imposed by limited instruction-levelparallelism and other performance-constraining issues have recentlyrenewed an interest in exploiting parallelism at the level of blocks, orsequences, or streams of instructions, commonly referred to asthread-level parallelism. A thread is simply a sequence, or stream, ofprogram instructions. A multithreaded microprocessor concurrentlyexecutes multiple threads according to some scheduling policy thatdictates the fetching and issuing of instructions of the variousthreads, such as interleaved, blocked, or simultaneous multithreading. Amultithreaded microprocessor typically allows the multiple threads toshare the functional units of the microprocessor (e.g., instructionfetch and decode units, caches, branch prediction units, and load/store,integer, floating-point, SIMD, etc. execution units) in a concurrentfashion. However, multithreaded microprocessors include multiple sets ofresources, or contexts, for storing the unique state of each thread,such as multiple program counters and general purpose register sets, tofacilitate the ability to quickly switch between threads to fetch andissue instructions.

One example of a performance-constraining issue addressed bymultithreading microprocessors is the fact that accesses to memoryoutside the microprocessor that must be performed due to a cache misstypically have a relatively long latency. It is common for the memoryaccess time of a contemporary microprocessor-based computer system to bebetween one and two orders of magnitude greater than the cache hitaccess time. Instructions dependent upon the data missing in the cacheare stalled in the pipeline waiting for the data to come from memory.Consequently, some or all of the pipeline stages of a single-threadedmicroprocessor may be idle performing no useful work for many clockcycles. Multithreaded microprocessors may solve this problem by issuinginstructions from other threads during the memory fetch latency, therebyenabling the pipeline stages to make forward progress performing usefulwork, somewhat analogously to, but at a finer level of granularity than,an operating system performing a task switch on a page fault. Otherexamples of performance-constraining issues addressed by multithreadingmicroprocessors are pipeline stalls and their accompanying idle cyclesdue to a data dependence; or due to a long latency instruction such as adivide instruction, floating-point instruction, or the like; or due to alimited hardware resource conflict. Again, the ability of amultithreaded microprocessor to issue instructions from other threads topipeline stages that would otherwise be idle may significantly reducethe time required to execute the program or collection of programscomprising the threads.

Because there are multiple threads in a multithreading processorcompeting for limited resources, such as instruction fetch and executionbandwidth, there is a need to fairly arbitrate among the threads for thelimited resources. One fair arbitration scheme used in other contexts isa round-robin arbitration scheme. In a round-robin arbitration scheme,an order of the requesters is maintained and each requestor gets a turnto use the requested resource in the maintained order. The circuitry toimplement a round-robin arbitration scheme in which each of therequestors requests the resource each time the resource becomesavailable is not complex. A conventional round-robin circuit may beimplemented as a simple N-bit barrel shifter, wherein N is the number ofrequestors and one bit corresponds to each of the N requestors. One bitof the barrel shifter is initially true, and the single true bit isrotated around the barrel shifter each time a new requester is selected.One characteristic of such a round-robin circuit is that the complexityis N. In particular, the integrated circuit area and power consumed bythe barrel shifter grows linearly with the number of requestors N.

However, the circuitry to implement a round-robin arbitration scheme inwhich only a variable subset of the requestors may be requesting theresource each time the resource becomes available is more complex. Aconventional round-robin circuit accommodating a variable subset ofrequesting requesters may be implemented by a storage element storing anN-bit vector, denoted L, having one bit set corresponding to thepreviously selected requestor and combinational logic receiving the Lvector and outputting a new N-bit selection vector, denoted N, accordingto the following equation, where E.i indicates whether a correspondingone of the requesters is currently requesting:

N.i = ; This requestor is enabled, i.e., is requesting.  E.i AND ; Therequestor to the right was selected last time.  (L.i−1 OR ; A requestorfurther to the right was selected last ; time AND the requestors inbetween are disabled.  (~E.i−1 AND L.i−2) OR  (~E.i−1 AND ~E.i−2 ANDL.i−3) OR   ... ; This requestor was selected last time, ; but no otherrequestors are enabled.  (~E.i−1 AND ~E.i−2 AND ~E.i−3 AND .... ~E.i+1AND L.i))

As may be observed from the equation above, the complexity of theconventional round-robin circuit accommodating a variable subset ofdisabled requesters has complexity N². Thus, as the number ofrequestors—such as the number of threads in a multithreadingmicroprocessor—becomes relatively large, the size of the conventionalcircuit may become burdensome on the processor in terms of size andpower consumption, particularly if more than one such circuit is neededin the processor.

One application in which a round-robin circuit accommodating a variablesubset of disabled requestors may be needed is in a multithreadingmicroprocessor having multiple threads that request to fetchinstructions from an instruction cache. The threads compete to fetchtheir instructions from an instruction cache, which can only accept onefetch address at a time. In any given selection cycle, only a subset ofthe threads may need to fetch instructions. It may be desirable toselect the threads requesting in a fair manner. Therefore, what isneeded is a round-robin apparatus and method for use in a fetch directorthat accommodates a variable subset of all threads requesting to fetchinstructions at a time, which has reduced complexity over a conventionalcircuit.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention provides a round-robin apparatus and method foruse in a fetch director of a multithreaded microprocessor concurrentlyexecuting multiple threads that accommodates a variable subset of allthreads requesting to fetch instructions at a time that scales linearlyin complexity with the number of threads.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus forselecting one of N fetch addresses associated with N correspondingthreads for providing to an instruction cache for fetching instructionstherefrom in a multithreading microprocessor that concurrently executesthe N threads, wherein a subset of the N threads may request to fetchinstructions in a selection cycle. The apparatus includes a first input,for receiving a first corresponding N-bit value specifying which of theN threads was last selected to fetch instructions, wherein only one ofthe N bits corresponding to the last selected thread is true. Theapparatus also includes a second input, for receiving a secondcorresponding N-bit value, each of the N bits being false if thecorresponding one of the N threads is requesting to fetch instructions.The apparatus also includes a barrel incrementer, coupled to receive thefirst and second inputs, configured to 1-bit left-rotatively incrementthe second value by the first value to generate a sum. The apparatusalso includes combinational logic, coupled to the barrel incrementer,configured to generate a third corresponding N-bit value specifyingwhich of the N threads is selected next to fetch instructions, the thirdvalue comprising a Boolean AND of the sum and an inverted version of thesecond value, wherein only one of the N bits corresponding to the nextselected one of the N threads is true.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for selectingone of N fetch addresses associated with N corresponding threads forproviding to an instruction cache for fetching instructions therefrom ina multithreading microprocessor that concurrently executes the Nthreads, wherein a subset of the N threads may request to fetchinstructions in a selection cycle. The method includes receiving a firstcorresponding N-bit value specifying which of the N threads was lastselected to fetch instructions, wherein only one of the N bitscorresponding to the last selected thread is true. The method alsoincludes receiving a second corresponding N-bit value, each of the Nbits being false if the corresponding one of the N threads is requestingto fetch instructions. The method also includes 1-bit left-rotativelyincrementing the second value by the first value to generate a sum. Themethod also includes generating a third corresponding N-bit valuespecifying which of the N threads is selected next to fetchinstructions, the third value comprising a Boolean AND of the sum and aninverted version of the second value, wherein only one of the N bitscorresponding to the next selected one of the N threads is true.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a computer programproduct for use with a computing device, the computer program productcomprising a computer usable medium, having computer readable programcode embodied in the medium, for causing an apparatus for selecting oneof N fetch addresses associated with N corresponding threads forproviding to an instruction cache for fetching instructions therefrom ina multithreading microprocessor that concurrently executes the Nthreads, wherein a subset of the N threads may request to fetchinstructions in a selection cycle. The computer readable program codeincludes first program code for providing a first input, for receiving afirst corresponding N-bit value specifying which of the N threads waslast selected to fetch instructions, wherein only one of the N bitscorresponding to the last selected thread is true. The computer readableprogram code includes second program code for providing a second input,for receiving a second corresponding N-bit value, each of the N bitsbeing false if the corresponding one of the N threads is requesting tofetch instructions. The computer readable program code includes thirdprogram code for providing a barrel incrementer, coupled to receive thefirst and second inputs, configured to 1-bit left-rotatively incrementthe second value by the first value to generate a sum. The computerreadable program code includes fourth program code for providingcombinational logic, coupled to the barrel incrementer, configured togenerate a third corresponding N-bit value specifying which of the Nthreads is selected next to fetch instructions, the third valuecomprising a Boolean AND of the sum and an inverted version of thesecond value, wherein only one of the N bits corresponding to the nextselected one of the N threads is true.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a computer data signalembodied in a transmission medium, comprising computer-readable programcode for providing an apparatus for selecting one of N fetch addressesassociated with N corresponding threads for providing to an instructioncache for fetching instructions therefrom in a multithreadingmicroprocessor that concurrently executes the N threads, wherein asubset of the N threads may request to fetch instructions in a selectioncycle. The program code includes first program code for providing afirst input, for receiving a first corresponding N-bit value specifyingwhich of the N threads was last selected to fetch instructions, whereinonly one of the N bits corresponding to the last selected thread istrue. The program code includes second program code for providing asecond input, for receiving a second corresponding N-bit value, each ofthe N bits being false if the corresponding one of the N threads isrequesting to fetch instructions. The program code includes thirdprogram code for providing a barrel incrementer, coupled to receive thefirst and second inputs, configured to 1-bit left-rotatively incrementthe second value by the first value to generate a sum. The program codeincludes fourth program code for providing combinational logic, coupledto the barrel incrementer, configured to generate a third correspondingN-bit value specifying which of the N threads is selected next to fetchinstructions, the third value comprising a Boolean AND of the sum and aninverted version of the second value, wherein only one of the N bitscorresponding to the next selected one of the N threads is true.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus forselecting one of N threads for fetching instructions into N respectiveinstruction buffers from an instruction cache in a multithreadingmicroprocessor that concurrently executes the N threads. The apparatusincludes a first round-robin generator, configured to generate a firstround-robin indicator indicating a next one of the N threads inround-robin order which is enabled for fetching and has an emptyinstruction buffer. The apparatus also includes a second round-robingenerator, configured to generate a second round-robin indicatorindicating a next one of the N threads in round-robin order which isenabled for fetching. The apparatus also includes a multiplexer, coupledto receive the first and second indicators. The multiplexer outputs thefirst indicator if at least one of the N threads is enabled for fetchingand has an empty instruction buffer, and otherwise outputs the secondindicator. The output indicates which of the N threads is selected forfetching instructions.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for selectingone of N threads for fetching instructions into N respective instructionbuffers from an instruction cache in a multithreading microprocessorthat concurrently executes the N threads. The method includes generatinga first round-robin indicator indicating a next one of the N threads inround-robin order which is enabled for fetching and has an emptyinstruction buffer. The method also includes generating a secondround-robin indicator indicating a next one of the N threads inround-robin order which is enabled for fetching. The method alsoincludes outputting the first indicator if at least one of the N threadsis enabled for fetching and has an empty instruction buffer, andotherwise outputting the second indicator, to indicate which of the Nthreads is selected for fetching instructions.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a computer programproduct for use with a computing device, the computer program productcomprising a computer usable medium, having computer readable programcode embodied in the medium, for causing an apparatus for selecting oneof N threads for fetching instructions into N respective instructionbuffers from an instruction cache in a multithreading microprocessorthat concurrently executes the N threads. The computer readable programcode includes first program code for providing a first round-robingenerator, configured to generate a first round-robin indicatorindicating a next one of the N threads in round-robin order which isenabled for fetching and has an empty instruction buffer. The computerreadable program code also includes second program code for providing asecond round-robin generator, configured to generate a secondround-robin indicator indicating a next one of the N threads inround-robin order which is enabled for fetching. The computer readableprogram code also includes third program code for providing amultiplexer, coupled to receive the first and second indicators, andconfigured to output the first indicator if at least one of the Nthreads is enabled for fetching and has an empty instruction buffer, andto output the second indicator otherwise, wherein the output indicateswhich of the N threads is selected for fetching instructions.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a computer data signalembodied in a transmission medium, comprising computer-readable programcode for providing an apparatus for selecting one of N threads forfetching instructions into N respective instruction buffers from aninstruction cache in a multithreading microprocessor that concurrentlyexecutes the N threads. The program code includes first program code forproviding a first round-robin generator, configured to generate a firstround-robin indicator indicating a next one of the N threads inround-robin order which is enabled for fetching and has an emptyinstruction buffer. The program code also includes second program codefor providing a second round-robin generator, configured to generate asecond round-robin indicator indicating a next one of the N threads inround-robin order which is enabled for fetching. The program code alsoincludes third program code for providing a multiplexer, coupled toreceive the first and second indicators, and configured to output thefirst indicator if at least one of the N threads is enabled for fetchingand has an empty instruction buffer, and to output the second indicatorotherwise, wherein the output indicates which of the N threads isselected for fetching instructions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a pipelined multithreadingmicroprocessor according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating portions of the microprocessor ofFIG. 1, and in particular, instruction/skid buffers according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an instruction/skid bufferexemplifying one of the instruction/skid buffers of FIG. 2 andassociated control logic according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is four flowcharts illustrating operation of the instruction/skidbuffer of FIG. 3 according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the microprocessor ofFIG. 1 to flush a stalled thread context to improve execution bandwidthutilization according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the scheduler within themicroprocessor of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the presentinvention in which the scheduler is bifurcated.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail the dispatchscheduler of FIG. 6 and the instruction selection logic of FIG. 2according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the dispatch schedulerof FIG. 7 according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating the policy manager of FIG. 6 anda TCSchedule register according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the policy manager ofFIG. 9 according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail the dispatchscheduler of FIG. 6 and the instruction selection logic of FIG. 2according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the dispatch schedulerof FIG. 11 according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating shared dynamically-allocatableskid buffers of the microprocessor of FIG. 1 according to an alternateembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is three flowcharts illustrating operation of the skid buffersof FIG. 13 according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a single shared instruction/skidbuffer of the microprocessor of FIG. 1 according to an alternateembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is two block diagrams illustrating the dispatch scheduler ofFIG. 6 including the round-robin logic of FIGS. 7 and 11 according toone embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a round-robin generator of FIG.16 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is four block diagrams illustrating the barrel-incrementer ofFIG. 17 according to four embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is two block diagrams illustrating two examples of operation ofthe dispatch scheduler employing the round-robin generators of FIG. 16according the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating the dispatch scheduler of FIG. 6including the round-robin logic of FIGS. 7 and 11 according to analternate embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating the round-robin generator ofFIG. 20 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is four block diagrams illustrating four examples of operationof the dispatch scheduler having round-robin generators of FIG. 20according the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating a round-robin multithreadedfetch director for operation in the instruction fetcher of FIG. 1according to the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating a round-robin multithreadedreturn data selector for operation in the microprocessor pipeline ofFIG. 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating a round-robin multithreadedfetch director for operation in the instruction fetcher of FIG. 1according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram illustrating a pipelinedmultithreading microprocessor 100 according to the present invention isshown. The microprocessor 100 is configured to concurrently execute aplurality of threads. A thread—also referred to herein as a thread ofexecution, or instruction stream—comprises a sequence, or stream, ofprogram instructions. The threads may be from different programsexecuting on the microprocessor 100, or may be instruction streams fromdifferent parts of the same program executing on the microprocessor 100,or a combination thereof.

Each thread has an associated thread context (TC). A thread contextcomprises a collection of storage elements, such as registers orlatches, and/or bits in the storage elements of the microprocessor 100that describe the state of execution of a thread. That is, the threadcontext describes the state of its respective thread, which is unique tothe thread, rather than state shared with other threads of executionexecuting concurrently on the microprocessor 100. By storing the stateof each thread in the thread contexts, the microprocessor 100 isconfigured to quickly switch between threads to fetch and issueinstructions. In one embodiment, each thread context includes a programcounter (PC), a general purpose register set, and thread controlregisters, which are included in register files 112 of themicroprocessor 100.

The microprocessor 100 concurrently executes the threads according to ascheduling policy that dictates the fetching and issuing of instructionsof the various threads. Various embodiments for scheduling thedispatching of instructions from the multiple threads are describedherein. The terms instruction “issue” and “dispatch” are usedinterchangeably herein. The multithreaded microprocessor 100 allows themultiple threads to share the functional units of the microprocessor 100(e.g., instruction fetch and decode units, caches, branch predictionunits, and execution units, such as load/store, integer, floating-point,SIMD, and other execution units) in a concurrent fashion.

The microprocessor 100 includes an instruction cache 102 for cachingprogram instructions—in particular, the instructions of the variousthreads—fetched from a system memory of a system including themicroprocessor 100. The microprocessor 100 also includes an instructionfetcher 104, or instruction fetch pipeline 104, coupled to concurrentlyfetch instructions of the multiple threads from the instruction cache102 and/or system memory into instruction/skid buffers 106, coupled tothe instruction fetcher 104. In one embodiment, the instruction fetchpipeline 104 includes a four stage pipeline. The instruction/skidbuffers 106 provide instructions to an instruction scheduler 108, orthread scheduler 108. In one embodiment, each thread has its owninstruction/skid buffer 106. Each clock cycle, the scheduler 108 selectsan instruction from one of the threads and issues the instruction forexecution by execution stages of the microprocessor 100 pipeline. Theregister files 112 are coupled to the scheduler 108 and provideinstruction operands to execution units 114 that execute theinstructions. The microprocessor 100 also includes a data cache 118coupled to the execution units 114. The execution units 114 may include,but are not limited to, integer execution units, floating-pointexecution units, SIMD execution units, load/store units, and branchexecution units. In one embodiment, the integer execution unit pipelineincludes four stages: a register file (RF) access stage in which theregister file 112 is accessed, an address generation (AG) stage, anexecute (EX) stage, and a memory second (MS) stage. In the EX stage,simple ALU operations are performed (such as adds, subtracts, shifts,etc.). Additionally, the data cache 118 is a two-cycle cache that isaccessed during a first clock cycle in the EX stage and is accessedduring a second clock cycle in the MS stage. Each thread contextincludes its own register file 112, and each register file includes itsown program counter, general purpose register set, and thread controlregisters. The instruction fetcher 104 fetches instructions of thethreads based on the program counter value of each thread context. It isnoted that some of the execution units 114 may be pipelined, and someextensively. The microprocessor 100 pipeline also includes a write-backstage 116 that writes instruction results back into the register files112. In one embodiment, the microprocessor 100 pipeline also includes anexception resolution stage coupled between the execution units 114 andthe write-back stage 116.

The execution units 114 generate a TC_instr_committed signal 124associated with each thread context to indicate that an instruction ofthe specified thread has been committed for execution. An instructionhas been committed for execution if the instruction is guaranteed not tobe flushed by the microprocessor 100 pipeline, but instead to eventuallycomplete execution, which generates a result and updates thearchitectural state of the microprocessor 100. In one embodiment,multiple instructions may be committed per clock cycle, and theTC_instr_committed signals 124 indicate the number of instructionscommitted for the thread context that clock cycle. TheTC_instr_committed signals 124 are provided to the scheduler 108. Inresponse to the TC_instr_committed signal 124, the scheduler 108 updatesa virtual water level indicator for the thread that is used by thethread scheduling policy of the scheduler 108 to accomplish requiredquality-of-service, as described below with respect to FIGS. 9 and 10.

The TC_instr_committed signals 124 are also provided to the respectiveinstruction/skid buffers 106. In response to the TC_instr_committedsignal 124, the instruction/skid buffer 106 updates a pointer toeffectively remove the instruction from the buffer 106. In aconventional microprocessor, instructions are removed from aconventional instruction buffer and issued for execution. However,advantageously, the instruction/skid buffers 106 described hereincontinue to store instructions after they have been issued forexecution. The instructions are not removed from the instruction/skidbuffers 106 until the execution units 114 indicate that an instructionhas been committed for execution via the respective TC_instr_committedsignal 124, as described in detail below with respect to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The scheduler 108 provides to the execution units 114 a runnable TCssignal 132. The runnable TCs signal 132 specifies which of the threadcontexts are runnable, i.e., which thread contexts the scheduler 108 maycurrently issue instructions from. In one embodiment, a thread contextis runnable if the thread context is active and is not blocked by otherconditions (such as being Halted, Waiting, Suspended, or Yielded), asdescribed below with respect to FIG. 7. In particular, the executionunits 114 use the runnable TCs signal 132 to determine whether a stalledthread context is the only runnable thread context for deciding whetheror not to flush the instructions of the stalled thread context, asdescribed in detail below with respect to FIG. 5.

The execution units 114 provide to the scheduler 108 a stalling eventssignal 126. The stalling events signal 126 indicates that an instructionhas stalled, or would have stalled, in an execution unit 114 for thereason specified by the particular stalling event signal 126. Inaddition, the stalling events signal 126 includes an identifieridentifying the thread context of the stalled instruction. The executionunits 114 also provide to the scheduler 108 an unstalling events signal128. In response to the stalling events signal 126, the scheduler 108stops issuing instructions for the stalled thread context until arelevant unstalling event 128 is signaled, as described in more detailbelow with respect to FIG. 5.

Examples of events that would cause an execution unit 114 to stall inresponse to an instruction include, but are not limited to, thefollowing. First, the instruction may be dependent upon unavailabledata, such as data from a load instruction that misses in the data cache118. For example, an add instruction may specify an operand which isunavailable because a preceding load instruction that missed in the datacache 118 and the operand has not yet been fetched from system memory.Second, the instruction may be dependent upon data from a long-runninginstruction, such as a divide or other long arithmetic instruction, oran instruction that moves a value from a coprocessor register, forexample. Third, the instruction may introduce a conflict for a limitedhardware resource. For example, in one embodiment the microprocessor 100includes a single divider circuit. If a divide instruction is alreadybeing executed by the divider, then a second divide instruction muststall waiting for the first divide instruction to finish. For anotherexample, in one embodiment the microprocessor 100 instruction setincludes a group of instructions for performing low-level managementoperations of the instruction cache 102. If an instruction cachemanagement instruction is already being executed, then a secondinstruction cache management instruction must stall waiting for thefirst to finish. For another example, in one embodiment, themicroprocessor 100 includes a load queue that includes a relativelysmall number of slots for storing in-progress data cache 118 refills.When a load instruction misses in the data cache 118, a load queue entryis allocated and a processor bus transaction is initiated to obtain themissing data from system memory. When the data is returned on the bus,it is stored into the load queue and is subsequently written into thedata cache 118. When the bus transaction is complete and all the data iswritten to the data cache 118, the load queue entry is freed. However,when the load queue is full, a load miss causes a pipeline stall.Fourth, the instruction may follow an EHB instruction. In oneembodiment, the microprocessor 100 instruction set includes an EHB(Execution Hazard Barrier) instruction that is used by software to stopinstruction execution until all execution hazards have been cleared.Typically, instructions following an EHB instruction will stall in thepipeline until the EHB instruction is retired. Fifth, the instructionmay follow a load or store instruction addressed to inter-threadcommunication (ITC) space in its same thread context. In one embodiment,the microprocessor 100 supports loads and stores to an ITC spacecomprising synchronized storage, which can block for arbitrarily longtimes causing instructions in the same thread context following the ITCload or store to stall.

Conversely, examples of unstalling events 128 include, but are notlimited to, the following: load data that missed in the data cache 118is returned; a limited hardware resource is freed up, such as a dividercircuit, the instruction cache 102, or a load queue slot; an EHBinstruction, long-running instruction, or load/store instruction tointer-thread communication (ITC) space completes.

The execution units 114 also generate a TC_flush signal 122 associatedwith each thread context to indicate that the instructions of thespecified thread in the execution portion of the pipeline (i.e., portionof the pipeline below the scheduler 108) have been flushed, ornullified. In one embodiment, flushing or nullifying an instructioncomprises clearing a valid bit associated with the instruction in thepipeline, which prevents the pipeline from updating the architecturalstate of the microprocessor 100 in response to results of theinstruction. One reason an execution unit 114 may generate a TC_flushsignal 122 is when an instruction of a thread would stall in theexecution unit 114, as described above. Nullifying or flushing theinstruction removes the reason for the instruction to be stalled, sincethe results generated for the instruction will be disregarded andtherefore need not be correct. Advantageously, by flushing the stallinginstruction, instructions of other threads may continue to execute andutilize the execution bandwidth of the execution pipeline, therebypotentially increasing the overall performance of the microprocessor100, as described in more detail below. In one embodiment, onlyinstructions of the stalling thread are flushed, which mayadvantageously reduce the number of pipeline bubbles introduced by theflush, and in some cases may cause only one bubble associated with thestalling instruction, depending upon the composition of instructionsfrom the various threads present in the execution unit 114 pipeline. Inone embodiment, the TC_flush signal 122 signal indicates that alluncommitted instructions of the thread context have been flushed. Inanother embodiment, the execution unit 114 may flush fewer than thenumber of uncommitted instructions present in the execution unit 114,namely the stalling instruction and any newer instructions of thestalling thread context, but not flush uncommitted instructions of thethread context that are older than the stalling instruction. In thisembodiment, the TC_flush signal 122 signal also indicates a number ofinstructions that were flushed by the execution unit 114.

The TC_flush signals 122 are provided by the execution units 114 totheir respective instruction/skid buffers 106. The instruction/skidbuffer 106 uses the TC_flush signal 122 to roll back the state of theinstructions in the buffer 106 as described below with respect to FIGS.3 and 4. Because the instruction/skid buffers 106 continue to storeinstructions until they have been committed not to be flushed, anyinstructions that are flushed may be subsequently re-issued from theinstruction/skid buffers 106 without having to be re-fetched from theinstruction cache 102. This has the advantage of potentially reducingthe penalty associated with flushing stalled instructions from theexecution pipeline to enable instructions from other threads to execute.Reducing the likelihood of having to re-fetch instructions is becomingincreasingly important since instruction fetch times appear to beincreasing. This is because, among other things, it is becoming morecommon for instruction caches to require more clock cycles to accessthan in older microprocessor designs, largely due to the decrease inprocessor clock periods. Thus, the penalty associated with aninstruction re-fetch may be one, two, or more clock cycles more than inearlier designs.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrating portions of themicroprocessor 100 of FIG. 1, and in particular, instruction/skidbuffers 106 according to one embodiment of the present invention isshown. FIG. 2 illustrates a plurality of instruction/skid buffers 106for a plurality of respective thread contexts into which the instructionfetcher 104 of FIG. 1 fetches instructions. The structure and operationof the instruction/skid buffers 106 according to one embodiment areshown in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 3 and 4. Eachinstruction/skid buffer 106 provides an instruction 206 to instructionselection logic 202. Each clock cycle, the instruction selection logic202 selects one of the instructions 206 as selected instruction 204 forprovision to the execution units 114 to be executed. The instructionselection logic 202 selects the selected instruction 204 in response toa DS_TC_priority signal 208 provided by the scheduler 108 of FIG. 1 foreach thread context. Operation of the DS_TC_priority signal 208 isdescribed in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 7 and 8.

Although an embodiment is described in which the microprocessor 100 is ascalar processor, i.e., only issues for execution one instruction perclock cycle, it should be understood that the instruction selectionlogic 202 may be configured to operate within a superscalar processorthat issues multiple instructions per clock cycle. Furthermore, theinstruction selection logic 202 may be configured to select instructionsfor issue from multiple and different thread contexts per clock cycle,commonly referred to as simultaneous multithreading.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a block diagram illustrating aninstruction/skid buffer 106 exemplifying one of the instruction/skidbuffers 106 of FIG. 2 and associated control logic 302 according to thepresent invention is shown. Each of the instruction/skid buffers 106 ofFIG. 2 is similar to the instruction/skid buffer 106 shown in FIG. 3.That is, although only one instruction/skid buffer 106 and associatedcontrol logic 302 is shown in FIG. 3, in one embodiment oneinstruction/skid buffer 106 and associated control logic 302 exists foreach thread context. The instruction/skid buffer 106 includes aplurality of entries 332, each for storing an instruction, and anassociated valid bit 334, for indicating whether the associatedinstruction is valid. FIG. 3 illustrates an instruction/skid buffer 106with six entries, denoted 0 through 5. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, theinstruction/skid buffer 106 is configured as a circular queue ofentries.

The instruction fetcher 104 of FIG. 1 generates a write signal 314 tothe instruction/skid buffer 106 each time it writes an instruction intothe instruction/skid buffer 106. The write signal 314 is also providedto the control logic 302. The control logic 302 generates a full signal312 to the instruction fetcher 104 to indicate that the instruction/skidbuffer 106 is full so that the instruction fetcher 104 will not writemore instructions into the instruction/skid buffer 106 until theinstruction/skid buffer 106 is no longer full.

The scheduler 108 of FIG. 1 generates a read signal 316 each time itreads an instruction from the instruction/skid buffer 106. The readsignal 316 is also provided to the control logic 302. The control logic302 generates an empty signal 318 to the scheduler 108 to indicate thatthe instruction/skid buffer 106 is empty so that the scheduler 108 willnot attempt to read another instruction from the instruction/skid buffer106 until the instruction/skid buffer 106 is no longer empty.

The control logic 302 includes valid generation logic 342 that updatesthe valid bits 334 of the instruction/skid buffer 106. The validgeneration logic 342 receives the TC_instr_committed signal 124 of FIG.1 for the respective thread context. Each time the execution units 114generate the TC_instr_committed signal 124, the valid generation logic342 invalidates the oldest valid instruction in the instruction/skidbuffer 106. The valid generation logic 342 also receives the writesignal 314 from the instruction fetcher 104. Each time the instructionfetcher 104 generates the write signal 314 the valid generation logic342 marks the entry valid in the instruction/skid buffer 106 into whichthe instruction was written.

The control logic 302 also includes a full_count counter 306 that storesthe number of valid instructions present in the instruction/skid buffer106. The full_count counter 306 is incremented by the write signal 314from the instruction fetcher 104 and decremented by theTC_instr_committed signal 124. The control logic 302 also includes acomparator 304 that compares the full_count 306 to the maximum number ofinstructions that may be stored in the instruction/skid buffer 106(i.e., the total number of entries 332 in the instruction/skid buffer106) to generate a true value on the full signal 312 when the full_count306 equals the maximum number of instruction/skid buffer 106instructions.

The control logic 302 also includes an empty_count counter 346 thatstores the number of valid instructions present in the instruction/skidbuffer 106 that currently are eligible for issuing. The empty_count 346may be less than the full_count 306 at certain times since some validinstructions may be present in the instruction/skid buffer 106 whichhave already been issued to the execution pipeline (but have not yetbeen committed) and therefore are not currently eligible for issuing.The empty_count counter 346 is incremented by the write signal 314 fromthe instruction fetcher 104 and decremented by the read signal 316 fromthe scheduler 108. The control logic 302 also includes a comparator 344that compares the empty_count 346 to zero to generate a true value onthe empty signal 318 when the empty_count 346 equals zero. Additionally,the empty_count counter 346 is written with the value of the full_countcounter 306 in response to a true value on the TC_flush signal 122 ofFIG. 1.

The control logic 302 also includes a write pointer 322, commit pointer324, and read pointer 326, each of which is a counter initialized toentry 0 of the instruction/skid buffer 106. Each of the counters wrapsback to zero when incremented beyond its maximum value, which is oneless than the number of entries in the instruction/skid buffer 106. Thewrite pointer 322 specifies the next entry in the instruction/skidbuffer 106 into which the instruction fetcher 104 writes an instructionand is incremented by the write signal 314 after the instruction iswritten. The commit pointer 324 specifies the next instruction in theinstruction/skid buffer 106 to be committed and is incremented by theTC_instr_committed signal 124. The read pointer 326 specifies the nextentry in the instruction/skid buffer 106 from which the scheduler 108reads an instruction and is incremented by the read signal 316 after theinstruction is read. Additionally, the read pointer 326 is written withthe value of the commit pointer 324 in response to a true value on theTC_flush signal 122. As shown in FIG. 3, the skid window includes theentries of the instruction/skid buffer 106 starting at the commitpointer 324 up to, but not including, the entry pointed to by the readpointer 326. The skid window includes the valid instructions that havealready been issued for execution but have not yet been committed.

Referring now to FIG. 4, four flowcharts illustrating operation of theinstruction/skid buffer 106 of FIG. 3 according to the present inventionare shown. Each of the flowcharts illustrates actions performed by theinstruction/skid buffer 106 in response to a different event. Flow ofthe first flowchart begins at block 402.

At block 402, the instruction fetcher 104 of FIG. 1 asserts the writesignal 314 of FIG. 3 for the respective instruction/skid buffer 106 andwrites an instruction into the instruction/skid buffer 106. Flowproceeds to block 404.

At block 404, the valid generation logic 342 marks the entry specifiedby the write pointer 322 as valid in response to the write signal 314.Flow proceeds to block 406.

At block 406, the write pointer 322 of FIG. 3 is incremented in responseto the write signal 314. Flow proceeds to block 408.

At block 408, the full_count counter 306 of FIG. 3 is incremented inresponse to the write signal 314. Flow proceeds to block 412.

At block 412, the empty_count counter 346 of FIG. 3 is incremented inresponse to the write signal 314. Flow of the first flowchart ends atblock 412.

Flow of the second flowchart begins at block 422.

At block 422, an execution unit 114 of FIG. 1 asserts theTC_instr_committed signal 124 of FIG. 1 for the thread contextassociated with the instruction/skid buffer 106. Flow proceeds to block424.

At block 424, the valid generation logic 342 marks the entry specifiedby the commit pointer 324 of FIG. 3 as invalid in response to theTC_instr_committed signal 124, thereby effectively removing theinstruction from the buffer. Flow proceeds to block 426.

At block 426, the commit pointer 324 is incremented in response to theTC_instr_committed signal 124. Flow proceeds to block 428.

At block 428, the full_count counter 306 is decremented in response tothe TC_instr_committed signal 124. Flow of the second flowchart ends atblock 428.

In one embodiment, rather than receiving the TC_instr_committed signal124, the control logic 302 receives another signal from the executionunit 114 that simply indicates an instruction should be removed from theinstruction/skid buffer 106, even though the instruction may not yet beguaranteed not to require re-dispatching. In one embodiment, the signalindicates an instruction has reached a predetermined re-dispatchpipeline stage. If the control logic 302 detects that the instructionhas reached the predetermined stage, the control logic 302 removes theinstruction from the instruction/skid buffer 106. In another embodiment,the signal indicates each clock cycle whether an instruction has beenrunning, i.e., has not been stalled, but has instead proceeded to thenext pipeline stage. If the control logic 302 detects that theinstruction has been running a predetermined number of clock cycles, thecontrol logic 302 removes the instruction from the instruction/skidbuffer 106. In these embodiments, the likelihood that an instructionwill require re-dispatching once it reaches a particular stage in theexecution pipeline 114 is low enough to justify removing it from theinstruction/skid buffer 106 to make room for another instruction to bewritten into the instruction/skid buffer 106, even though theinstruction is not yet guaranteed not to require re-dispatching. In thisembodiment, if the execution unit 114 subsequently indicates that theinstruction was flushed before completing execution, then the entireinstruction/skid buffer 106 for the thread context must be flushed,along with the entire instruction fetch pipeline 104, to guarantee thatthe thread instructions are issued in proper order.

Flow of the third flowchart begins at block 442.

At block 442, the scheduler 108 of FIG. 1 asserts the read signal 316 ofFIG. 3 for the respective instruction/skid buffer 106 and reads aninstruction from the instruction/skid buffer 106 to issue to theexecution pipeline. Flow proceeds to block 444.

At block 444, the read pointer 326 of FIG. 3 is incremented in responseto the read signal 316. Flow proceeds to block 446.

At block 446, the empty_count counter 346 is decremented in response tothe read signal 316. Flow of the third flowchart ends at block 446.

Flow of the fourth flowchart begins at block 462.

At block 462, asserts the TC_flush signal 122 for the thread contextassociated with the instruction/skid buffer 106. Flow proceeds to block464.

At block 464, the read pointer 326 is loaded with the commit pointer 324in response to the TC_flush signal 122. Flow proceeds to block 466.

At block 466, the empty_count counter 346 is loaded with the full_count306 in response to the TC_flush signal 122. Flow of the fourth flowchartends at block 466.

As discussed above, in one embodiment, the TC_flush signal 122 signalindicates that the execution unit 114 has flushed all uncommittedinstructions of the thread context. The fourth flowchart of FIG. 4describes operation of the instruction/skid buffer 106 for thisembodiment. However, in another embodiment, the execution unit 114 mayflush fewer than the number of uncommitted instructions present in theexecution unit 114, namely the stalling instruction and any newerinstructions of the stalling thread context, but not flush uncommittedinstructions of the thread context that are older than the stallinginstruction. In this embodiment, the TC_flush signal 122 signal alsoindicates a number of instructions that were flushed by the executionunit 114. In this embodiment, at block 464 the number of instructionsflushed is subtracted from the read pointer 326, rather than updatingthe read pointer 326 with the commit pointer 324. Additionally, at block466, the number of instructions flushed is added to the empty_count 346,rather than updating the empty_count 346 with the full_count counter306.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a flowchart illustrating operation of themicroprocessor 100 of FIG. 1 to flush a stalled thread context toimprove execution bandwidth utilization according to the presentinvention is shown. Flow begins at block 502.

At block 502, an execution unit 114 of FIG. 1 detects a stalling event,such as one of those described above with respect to the stalling eventssignal 126 of FIG. 1, in response to an instruction, i.e., the stallinginstruction. The execution unit 114 also determines which thread contextthe stalling instruction is associated with, i.e., the stalling threadcontext. In one embodiment, each instruction, as it proceeds down thepipeline, is accompanied by a unique thread context identifier that theexecution unit 114 uses to identify the stalling thread context. In oneembodiment, the execution unit 114 does not stall in response to thestalling event 126, but instead flushes the instruction according toblock 512 in the same clock cycle in which the stalling event 126 isdetected, thereby alleviating a need to stall the execution unit 114. Inanother embodiment, if required by timing considerations, the executionunit 114 may actually stall for one clock cycle in response to thestalling event 126 until the stalled instruction can be flushedaccording to block 512 below. Flow proceeds to block 504.

At decision block 504, the execution unit 114 determines whether thestalling thread context is the only runnable thread context, byexamining the runnable TCs signal 132 of FIG. 1. If so, flow proceeds toblock 526; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 506.

At block 506, the execution unit 114 signals the stalling event viastalling events signal 126 and also provides the identifier of thestalling thread context. Flow proceeds to block 508.

At block 508, the scheduler 108 marks the stalling thread contextstalled, stops issuing instructions for the thread context, and savesstate regarding the cause of the stalling event. In the embodiment ofFIG. 7, the issuable instruction logic 708 sets the stalled indicator704 to a true value to mark the thread context stalled, which causes theissuable instruction logic 708 to generate a false value on the issuable746 signal. Flow proceeds to block 512.

At block 512, the execution unit 114 nullifies, i.e., flushes, allinstructions of the stalling thread context in the execution unit 114and generates a true value on the TC_flush signal 122 of FIG. 1associated with the stalling thread context, i.e., the flushed threadcontext. It is understood that the execution unit 114 only flushes thestalling instruction and subsequent instructions, but does not flushinstructions preceding the stalling instructions; otherwise, thestalling condition might never end. In one embodiment, the executionunit 114 flushes instructions of all thread contexts, rather than justthe stalling thread context. However, the embodiment that only flushesthe stalling thread context has the advantage of potentially introducingfewer pipeline bubbles since instructions of other thread contexts maystill be remaining in the execution unit 114 to execute, therebypotentially causing the microprocessor 100 to be more efficient than theembodiment that flushes all thread contexts. Flow proceeds to block 514.

At block 514, the instruction/skid buffer 106 of FIG. 1 rolls back theflushed instructions in response to the TC_flush signal 122, such asdescribed with respect to embodiments of FIGS. 3 and 4, or 13 and 14, or15. Flow proceeds to block 516.

At block 516, the scheduler 108 continues to issue instructions forthread contexts that are not marked stalled, according to its threadscheduling policy. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, the stalled indicator704 indicates whether an instruction is stalled or unstalled.Additionally, the execution unit 114 continues to execute instructionsof the other thread contexts that are in the execution unit 114 afterthe flush at block 512 and subsequently dispatched instructions. Flowproceeds to decision block 518.

At decision block 518, the scheduler 108 determines whether the stallingevent terminated. The scheduler 108 determines whether the stallingevent for the stalling thread context terminated in response to theexecution unit 114 signaling an unstalling event via the unstallingevents signal 128 of FIG. 1 and further based on the state regarding thecause of the stalling event saved at block 508. If the stalling eventfor the stalling thread context terminated, flow proceeds to block 522;otherwise, flow returns to block 516.

At block 522, the scheduler 108 marks the stalling thread contextunstalled and begins issuing instructions for the (no longer) stallingthread context again, along with other non-stalled thread contexts. Inthe embodiment of FIG. 7, the issuable instruction logic 708 sets thestalled indicator 704 to a false value to mark the thread contextunstalled. Flow ends at block 522.

At block 524, because the stalling thread context is the only runnablethread context, the execution unit 114 stalls at the stallinginstruction in order to insure correct program execution. Flow proceedsto decision block 526.

At decision block 526, the scheduler 108 determines whether the stallingevent terminated. If so, flow proceeds to block 534; otherwise, flowproceeds to decision block 528.

At decision block 528, the execution unit 114 determines whether thestalled thread context is the only runnable thread context, by examiningthe runnable TCs signal 132 of FIG. 1. If so, flow proceeds to block526; otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 528.

At decision block 528, the execution unit 114 determines whether thestalling thread context is still the only runnable thread context. Ifso, flow returns to decision block 526; otherwise, flow proceeds toblock 506.

At block 532, the execution unit 114 unstalls and continues executingthe (no longer) stalling instruction and other instructions.Advantageously, when the stalling event ends, the stalled instructionand subsequent instructions may commence execution immediately withouthaving to be re-issued, which would be required if they had been flushedaccording to block 512. Thus, advantageously, by not flushing a stallingthread context if it is the only runnable thread context, themicroprocessor 100 potentially improves performance. Flow ends at block532.

As may be seen from FIG. 5, detecting a stalling event 126 in anexecution unit 114 and flushing the instruction from the execution unit114 to enable instructions of other threads to be dispatched to andexecuted in the execution unit 114 may advantageously make moreefficient use of the execution unit 114 by avoiding wasted clock cyclesdue to execution pipeline bubbles. By flushing the instruction inresponse to an actual condition in which the instruction would stall,the microprocessor 100 potentially achieves higher performance.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a block diagram illustrating the scheduler 108within the microprocessor 100 of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment ofthe present invention in which the scheduler 108 is bifurcated is shown.The bifurcated scheduler 108 comprises a dispatch scheduler (DS) 602portion and a policy manager (PM) 604 portion. The dispatch scheduler602 portion is comprised within a processor core 606 of microprocessor100; whereas, the policy manager 604 portion is comprised outside of theprocessor core 606. The processor core 606 is the portion of themicroprocessor 100 that is not customizable by the customer; whereas,the policy manager 604 is customizable by the customer. In oneembodiment, the processor core 606 is a synthesizable core, alsoreferred to as a soft core. The design of a synthesizable core iscapable of being reduced to a manufacturable representation quickly andeasily using automated tools, commonly referred to as synthesis tools.

The processor core 606 provides an interface 628 to the policy manager604 comprising a plurality of signals. In one embodiment, the inputs tothe dispatch scheduler 602 and output signals from the dispatchscheduler 602 are registered, to advantageously enable the non-corepolicy manager 604 logic to interface with the processor core 606 in amanner that alleviates certain timing problems that might be otherwiseintroduced by a bifurcated scheduler. Furthermore, the interface 628 iseasy for the customer to understand, which eases the design of thepolicy manager 604 scheduling policy.

In Table 1 below, the various signals comprising the policy managerinterface 628 according to one embodiment are shown. Table 1 specifiesthe signal name, the direction of the signal relative to the policymanager 604, and a brief description of each signal. Table 1 describesan embodiment in which the microprocessor 100 includes nine threadcontexts for storing state associated with up to nine threads ofexecution. Furthermore, the embodiment enables the microprocessor 100 tobe configured as up to two virtual processing elements (VPEs). In oneembodiment, the microprocessor 100 substantially conforms to a MIPS32 orMIPS64 Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) and includes a controlCoprocessor 0, referred to in Table 1 as CP0, which includes threadcontrol registers substantially conforming to a Coprocessor 0 specifiedin the MIPS Privileged Resource Architecture (PRA) and the MIPSMultithreading Application Specific Extension (MT ASE). Several of thesignals described in Table 1 are used to access CP0 registers.

TABLE 1 Signal Name Direction Description PM_gclk Input Processor ClockPM_gfclk Input Free running Processor Clock PM_greset_pre Input GlobalReset. Register before use. PM_gscanenable Input Global Scan Enable.PM_vpemap[8:0] Input Assignment of TCs to VPEs Encoding Meaning 1#0 TCbelongs to VPE 0 1#1 TC belongs to VPE 1 PM_cp0_reg_ex Input Registernumber for CP0 read. PM_cp0_sel_ex Input Register select for CP0 read.PM_cp0_rvpe_ex Input VPE select for CP0 read. PM_cp0_rtc_ex Input TCselect for CP0 read. PM_cp0_run_ex Input Clock Enable for registerholding PM_cp0_rdata_ms. PM_cp0_rdata_ms Output CP0 read data. Input tohold register controlled by PM_cp0_run_ex should be zero when PM CP0registers not selected. PM_cp0_wr_er Input CP0 register write strobe.PM_cp0_reg_er Input Register number for CP0 write. PM_cp0_sel_er InputRegister select for CP0 write. PM_cp0_wvpe_er Input VPE select for CP0write. PM_cp0_wtc_er Input TC select for CP0 write. PM_cp0_wdata_erInput CP0 write data. PM_vpe_dm[1:0] Input Debug Mode. DM bit of the CP0Debug Register for the two VPEs. PM_vpe_exl[1:0] Input Exception Level.EXL bit of the CP0 Status Register for the two VPEs. PM_vpe_erl[1:0]Input Error Level. ERL bit of the CP0 Status Register for the two VPEs.PM_tc_state_0[2:0] Input State of TC 0. Encoding Meaning 3#000 InActive.3#001 Active. 3#010 Yielded. 3#011 Halted. 3#100 Suspended. 3#101Waiting on ITC. 3#110 WAITing due to WAIT. 3#111 Used as SRS.PM_tc_state_1[2:0] Input State of TC 1. See PM_tc_state_0 for encoding.PM_tc_state_2[2:0] Input State of TC 2. See PM_tc_state_0 for encoding.PM_tc_state_3[2:0] Input State of TC 3. See PM_tc_state_0 for encoding.PM_tc_state_4[2:0] Input State of TC 4. See PM_tc_state_0 for encoding.PM_tc_state_5[2:0] Input State of TC 5. See PM_tc_state_0 for encoding.PM_tc_state_6[2:0] Input State of TC 6. See PM_tc_state_0 for encoding.PM_tc_state_7[2:0] Input State of TC 7. See PM_tc_state_0 for encoding.PM_tc_state_8[2:0] Input State of TC 8. See PM_tc_state_0 for encoding.PM_tc_ss[8:0] Input Single Stepping. SSt bit of the Debug Register forthe 9 TCs. PM_tc_inst_issued[8:0] Input Instruction issued by DispatchScheduler. PM_tc_instr_committed[8:0] Input Instruction committed.PM_tc_fork[8:0] Input FORK instruction has created a new TC.PM_tc_instr_committed contains which TC executed the FORK.PM_tc_priority_0[1:0] Output Priority of TC 0. PM_tc_priority_1[1:0]Output Priority of TC 1. PM_tc_priority_2[1:0] Output Priority of TC 2.PM_tc_priority_3[1:0] Output Priority of TC 3. PM_tc_priority_4[1:0]Output Priority of TC 4. PM_tc_priority_5[1:0] Output Priority of TC 5.PM_tc_priority_6[1:0] Output Priority of TC 6. PM_tc_priority_7[1:0]Output Priority of TC 7. PM_tc_priority_8[1:0] Output Priority of TC 8.PM_tc_block[8:0] Output Prevent Dispatch Scheduler from issuinginstructions for selected TCs. PM_vpe_relax_enable[1:0] Output Relaxfunction Enabled for the two VPEs. PM_vpe_relax_priority_0[1:0] OutputRelax Priority of VPE 0. PM_vpe_relax_priority_1[1:0] Output RelaxPriority of VPE 1. PM_vpe_exc_enable[1:0] Output Exception functionEnabled for the two VPEs. PM_vpe_exc_priority_0[1:0] Output ExceptionPriority of VPE 0. PM_vpe_exc_priority_1[1:0] Output Exception Priorityof VPE 1.

Some of the particular signals of the policy manager interface 628specified in Table 1 will now be described in more detail. The policymanager 604 specifies to the dispatch scheduler 602 the priority of therespective thread context via the PM_TC_priority 652 output. In oneembodiment, the PM_TC_priority 652 comprises two bits and the dispatchscheduler 602 allows the policy manager 604 to specify one of fourdifferent priorities for a thread context. The policy manager 604instructs the dispatch scheduler 602 to stop issuing instructions for athread context by generating a true value on the respective PM_TC_block654 output. Thus, the policy manager 604 may affect how the dispatchscheduler 602 issues instructions for the various thread contexts viathe PM_TC_priority 652 and PM_TC_block 654 outputs, as described in moredetail below, particularly with respect to FIGS. 7 through 11 below.

The processor core 606 provides the PM_gclk 658 to the policy manager604, which enables the policy manager 604 to adjust the PM_TC_priority652 periodically based on the PM_gclk 658, as described below withrespect to FIG. 9. The dispatch scheduler 602 communicates the state foreach thread context via respective PM_TC_state 642 input. As shown inTable 1, a thread context may be in one of eight states as follows.InActive: the dispatch scheduler 602 may not issue instructions of thethread context because the thread context is not currently associatedwith a thread of execution. Active: the thread context is currentlyassociated with a thread of execution; therefore, the dispatch scheduler602 may issue instructions of the thread context for execution if noother blocking conditions are present. Yielded: the dispatch scheduler602 may not issue instructions of the thread context for executionbecause the thread has executed a YIELD instruction, which causes thethread context to be blocked on a specified event. Halted: the dispatchscheduler may not issue instructions of the thread context for executionbecause the thread context has been halted by itself or by anotherthread. Suspended: the dispatch scheduler 602 may not issue instructionsof the thread context for execution because the thread executed a DMT orDVPE instruction, or because the microprocessor 100 or VPE is currentlyservicing an exception. A DMT instruction suspends multithreadingoperation for the VPE. A DVPE instruction suspends multithreadingoperation for the entire microprocessor 100. Waiting on ITC: thedispatch scheduler 602 may not issue instructions of the thread contextfor execution because the thread context is blocked waiting toload/store data from/to a location in inter-thread communication (ITC)space specified by a load/store instruction executed by the thread.WAITing due to WAIT: the dispatch scheduler 602 may not issueinstructions of the thread context for execution because the thread hasexecuted a WAIT instruction, which causes the thread context to beblocked until an interrupt has occurred. Used as SRS: the dispatchscheduler 602 may not issue instructions of the thread context becausethe thread context is not and cannot be associated with a thread ofexecution because the thread context register set is used for shadowregister set operation.

The dispatch scheduler 602 communicates to the policy manager 604 thatit has issued an instruction for a thread context via a respectivePM_TC_inst_issued 646 input. The execution units 114 communicate to thepolicy manager 604 that they have committed an instruction of a threadcontext via a respective PM_TC_instr_committed 644 input. In oneembodiment, the PM_TC_instr_committed 644 signal indicates execution ofthe instruction has been completed. In another embodiment, thePM_TC_instr_committed 644 signal indicates the instruction is guaranteednot to be flushed, i.e., to eventually complete execution, but may nothave yet been completed. The salient point is that thePM_TC_instr_committed 644 input provides to the policy manager 604information about executed instructions as opposed to merely dispatchedinstructions (as communicated by the PM_TC_inst_issued input 646), whichmay be different since some instructions may be speculatively dispatchedand never complete. This may be an important distinction to the policymanager 604 since some threads in an application may require aparticular quality-of-service, as discussed below with respect to FIG.9. In one embodiment, the PM_TC_instr_committed signal 644 is aregistered version of the TC_instr_committed signal 124. Thus, theprocessor core 606 provides feedback about the issuance and execution ofinstructions for the various thread contexts and state of the threadcontexts via the PM_TC_inst_issued 646, PM_TC_instr_committed 644, andPM_TC_state 642 inputs, as described in more detail below, particularlywith respect to FIGS. 7 through 11 below.

In one embodiment, the dispatch scheduler 602 also provides to thepolicy manager 604 a relax function, whose purpose is to enable themicroprocessor 100 to save power when the application thread contexts donot require full processor bandwidth, without actually going to sleep.The relax function operates as if there is an additional thread contextto be scheduled. However, when the relax thread context is selected forissue, the dispatch scheduler 602 does not issue an instruction. Thepolicy manager 604 maintains a RELAX_LEVEL counter (per-VPE) thatoperates similar to the TC_LEVEL 918 counters (described below withrespect to FIG. 9), except that it uses a RELAX_RATE for incrementingand is decremented when a relaxed instruction slot completes. In oneembodiment, the microprocessor 100 includes a VPESchedule registerper-VPE similar to the TCSchedule register 902 that enables software tospecify the RELAX_RATE. The relax function is enabled or disabled viathe PM_vpe_relax_enable signals specified in Table 1, and the relaxthread context priority is specified via the PM_vpe_relax_prioritysignals.

In one embodiment, the dispatch scheduler 602 also provides to thepolicy manager 604 an exception function, whose purpose is to enable anexception thread context to have its own independent priority from thenormal thread contexts. The policy manager maintains an EXC_LEVELcounter (per-VPE) that operates similar to the TC_LEVEL 918 counters(described below with respect to FIG. 9), except that it uses anEXC_RATE for incrementing and is decremented when an exceptioninstruction slot completes. When the exception mode is enabled and anexception is taken for the VPE, then the thread contexts of the VPE willall be set to the exception priority. In one embodiment, softwarespecifies the EXC_RATE via the VPESchedule registers. The exceptionfunction is enabled or disabled via the PM_vpe_exc_enable signalsspecified in Table 1, and the exception thread context priority isspecified via the PM_vpe_exc_priority signals.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a block diagram illustrating in more detail thedispatch scheduler 602 of FIG. 6 and the instruction selection logic 202of FIG. 2 according to the present invention is shown. The instructionselection logic 202 includes a tree of muxes 724 controlled bycomparators 714. Each mux 724 receives an instruction 206 of FIG. 2 fromtwo different thread contexts. Each mux 724 also receives theinstruction's 206 associated DS_TC_priority 208 of FIG. 2. Thecomparator 714 associated with each mux 724 also receives the pair ofDS_TC_priority signals for the two thread contexts and controls itsassociated mux 724 to select the instruction 206 and DS_TC_priority 208with the highest DS_TC_priority 208 value. The selected instructions 206and DS_TC_priorities 208 propagate down the tree until the final mux 724selects the selected instruction 204 of FIG. 2 with the highestDS_TC_priority 208 for provision to the execution pipeline.

FIG. 7 shows logic of the dispatch scheduler 602, namely a stalledindicator 704, issuable instruction logic 708, and round-robin logic712. In one embodiment, the stalled indicator 704 and issuableinstruction logic 708 are replicated within the dispatch scheduler 602for each thread context to generate a DS_TC_priority 208 for each threadcontext. In contrast, the round-robin logic 712 is instantiated once foreach possible PM_TC_priority 652 and generates a round-robin indicatorfor each PM_TC_priority 652. For example, FIG. 7 illustrates anembodiment in which the policy manager 604 may specify one of fourpossible PM_TC_priorities 652; hence, the round-robin logic 712 isinstantiated four times in the dispatch scheduler 602 and generates fourrespective round-robin indicators.

In one embodiment, the round-robin indicator includes one bit per threadcontext of the microprocessor 100. The bit of the round-robin indicatorassociated with its respective thread context is provided as round-robinbit 748 as shown in FIG. 7. If the round-robin bit 748 is true, then itis the thread context's turn in the round-robin scheme to be issuedamong the other thread contexts that are currently at the samePM_TC_priority 652.

The issuable instruction logic 708 receives the unstalling events signal128 and stalling events signal 126 from the execution units 114 of FIG.1, the PM_TC_block 654 signal from the policy manager 604 of FIG. 6, theempty signal 318 of FIG. 3 from the instruction/skid buffer 106, and TCstate 742 signals. In one embodiment, the TC state 742 signals conveysimilar information to the PM_TC_state 642 signals of FIG. 6. Theissuable instruction logic 708 sets the stalled indicator 704 to markthe thread context stalled in response to a stalling events signal 126that identifies the thread context. The issuable instruction logic 708also stores state in response to the stalling event 126 to remember thecause of the stall. Conversely, the issuable instruction logic 708clears the stalled indicator 704 in response to an unstalling eventssignal 128 if the unstalling event 128 is relevant to the cause of thestall. The issuable instruction logic 708 generates an issuable 746signal in response to its inputs. The issuable 746 signal is true if theinstruction 206 pointed to by the read pointer 326 of theinstruction/skid buffer 106 for the thread context is issuable. In oneembodiment, an instruction is issuable if the TC state signals 742indicate the thread context is in the Active state and is not blocked byother conditions (such as being Halted, Waiting, Suspended, or Yielded),the stalled indicator 704 is false, and the PM_TC_block 654 and empty318 signals are false.

The issuable 746 bit, the PM_TC_priority 652 bits, and the round-robinbit 748 are combined to create the DS_TC_priority 208. In the embodimentof FIG. 7, the issuable 746 bit is the most significant bit, theround-robin bit 748 is the least significant bit, and the PM_TC_priority652 is the two middle significant bits. As may be observed, because theissuable bit 746 is the most significant bit of the DS_TC_priority 652,a non-issuable instruction will be lower priority than all issuableinstructions. Conversely, the round-robin bit 748 is only used to selecta thread if more than one thread context has an issuable instruction andhas the same highest PM_TC_priority 652.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a flowchart illustrating operation of thedispatch scheduler 602 of FIG. 7 according to the present invention isshown. Flow begins at block 802.

At block 802, the dispatch scheduler 602 initializes each round-robinindicator for each PM_TC_priority 652. Flow proceeds to block 804.

At block 804, the dispatch scheduler 602 determines, for each threadcontext, whether the thread context has an issuable instruction 206.That is, the issuable instruction logic 708 for each thread contextgenerates a value on the issuable 746 signal. In one embodiment, theissuable instruction logic 708 generates a true signal on the issuable746 signal only if the TC state signals 742 indicate the thread contextis in the Active state and is not blocked by other conditions (such asbeing Halted, Waiting, Suspended, or Yielded), the stalled indicator 704is false, and the PM_TC_block 654 and empty 318 signals are false. Flowproceeds to decision block 806.

At decision block 806, the dispatch scheduler 602 determines, byexamining the issuable 746 signal for each of the thread contexts,whether there are any thread contexts that have an issuable instruction206. If not, flow returns to block 804 until at least one thread contexthas an issuable instruction 206; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 808.

At block 808, the dispatch scheduler 602 generates the DS_TC_priority208 for the instruction 206 of each thread context based on the issuable746 bit of the thread context, the PM_TC_priority 652 of the threadcontext, and the round-robin bit 748 of the PM_TC_priority 652 of thethread context. Flow proceeds to block 812.

At block 812, the dispatch scheduler 602 issues the instruction 206 withthe highest DS_TC_priority 208. In other words, the dispatch scheduler602 issues the instruction from the thread context that has an issuableinstruction and has the highest PM_TC_priority 652. If multiple threadcontexts meet that criteria, the dispatch scheduler 602 issues theinstruction from the thread context whose turn it is to issue asindicated by the round-robin bit 748 for the PM_TC_priority 652 of thethread contexts. Flow proceeds to block 814.

At block 814, the round-robin logic 712 updates the round-robinindicator for the PM_TC_priority 652 based on which of the threadcontexts was selected to have its instruction issued. Flow returns toblock 804.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a block diagram illustrating the policy manager604 of FIG. 6 and a TCSchedule register 902 according to the presentinvention is shown.

The microprocessor 100 includes a TCSchedule register 902 for eachthread context. The TCSchedule register 902 is software-programmable andprovides a means for software to provide a thread scheduling hint to thepolicy manager 604. In one embodiment, the TCSchedule register 902 iscomprised within the Coprocessor 0 register discussed above with respectto FIG. 6 and Table 1, and in particular is comprised within the policymanager 604. The TCSchedule register 902 includes six fields:TC_LEVEL_PARAM1 908, TC_LEVEL_PARAM2 906, TC_LEVEL_PARAM3 904, TC_RATE912, OV 914, and PRIO 916. In the embodiment of FIG. 9, theTC_LEVEL_PARAM1 908, TC_LEVEL_PARAM2 906, TC_LEVEL_PARAM3 904, andTC_RATE 912 fields comprise four bits, the PRIO 916 field comprises twobits, and the OV 914 field is a single bit.

The policy manager 604 logic shown in FIG. 9 comprises control logic924; comparators 922 coupled to provide their output to the controllogic 924; a TC_LEVEL 918 register coupled to provide its output as aninput to the comparators 924; and a three-input mux 926 that is coupledto provide its output as the input to the TC_LEVEL 918 register. The mux926 receives on its first input the output of the TC_LEVEL 918 registerfor retaining the correct value. The mux 926 receives on its secondinput the output of a decrementer 932 whose input is the output of theTC_LEVEL 918 register. The mux 926 receives on its third input theoutput of an incrementer 934 whose input is the output of an adder 936that adds the output of the TC_LEVEL 918 register and the output of amultiplier 938 that multiplies the TC_RATE 912 by 2. The TC_RATE 912 isan indication of the desired execution rate of the thread context, i.e.,the number of instructions to be completed per unit time. In theembodiment of FIG. 9, the TC_RATE 912 indicates the number ofinstructions of the thread that should be completed every 16 clockcycles. Although the logic just listed is shown only once in FIG. 9, thelogic is replicated within the policy manager 604 for each threadcontext to generate the PM_TC_block 654 and PM_TC_priority 652 signalsand to receive the PM_TC_state 642, PM_TC_inst_committed 644,PM_TC_inst_issued 646, and PM_gclk 658 signals for each thread context.

The policy manager 604 employs a modified leaky-bucket algorithm toaccomplish the high-level thread scheduling policy of the scheduler 108.The TC_LEVEL 918 register is analogous to the water level in a bucket.The TC_LEVEL 918 is essentially a measure of the amount of work thatneeds to be done by the thread context. In one embodiment, the TC_LEVEL918 register comprises a 12-bit register initialized to zero. Thecontrol logic 924 generates a control signal 928 to control which inputthe mux 926 selects. Every 32 clock cycles, the mux 926 selects theoutput of the incrementer 936 for storing in the TC_LEVEL 918 register,which increases the TC_LEVEL 918 by the quantity (TC_RATE*2+1). In oneembodiment, the number of clock cycles between updates of the TC_LEVEL918 based on the TC_RATE 912 is also programmable. On other clockcycles, the mux 926 selects the output of the decrementer 932 todecrement the TC_LEVEL 918 if the PM_TC_instr_committed signal 644indicates an instruction for the thread context has been committed forexecution. Thus, software can affect the virtual water level in thethread context's bucket by adjusting the TC_RATE 912 value of thethread's TCSchedule register 902. In the embodiment of FIG. 9, the valueof the TC_RATE 912 indicates the number of instructions per 16 clockcycles it is desired for the microprocessor 100 to execute for thethread context.

As the water level in a leaky bucket increases, so does the waterpressure, which causes the water to leak out at a higher rate.Analogously, the TC_LEVEL_PARAM fields 904/906/908 are programmed withmonotonically increasing values that define virtual water pressureranges. The comparators 922 compare the TC_LEVEL 918 with theTC_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908 and provide their result to the controllogic 924, which generates the PM_TC_priority 652 based on which of thevirtual water pressure ranges the TC_LEVEL 918 falls in. As illustratedby the leaky bucket of FIG. 9, the control logic 924 generates aPM_TC_priority 652 value of 3 (the highest priority) if the mostsignificant nibble of the TC_LEVEL 918 is above the TC_LEVEL_PARAM3 904value; the control logic 924 generates a PM_TC_priority 652 value of 2if the most significant nibble of the TC_LEVEL 918 is between theTC_LEVEL_PARAM3 904 value and the TC_LEVEL_PARAM2 906 value; the controllogic 924 generates a PM_TC_priority 652 value of 1 if the mostsignificant nibble of the TC_LEVEL 918 is between the TC_LEVEL_PARAM2906 value and the TC_LEVEL_PARAM1 908 value; and the control logic 924generates a PM_TC_priority 652 value of 0 (the lowest priority) if themost significant nibble of the TC_LEVEL 918 is below the TC_LEVEL_PARAM1908 value. Analogously, increasing the PM_TC_priority 652 levelincreases the pressure on the dispatch scheduler 602 to issueinstructions for the thread context, while decreasing the PM_TC_priority652 level decreases the pressure on the dispatch scheduler 602 to issueinstructions for the thread context.

As discussed above, in some applications using the microprocessor 100,different threads may require different instruction execution rates,which is programmable using the TC_RATE 912 field. Furthermore,different threads may require different resolutions, i.e., the period oftime over which the instruction execution rate is measured. That is,some threads, although perhaps not requiring a high execution rate, maynot be starved for instruction execution beyond a minimum time period.That is, the thread requires a particular quality-of-service. As may beobserved from FIG. 9 and the explanation thereof, the TC_LEVEL_PARAMs904/906/908 may be employed to accomplish a required resolution for eachthread. By assigning TC_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908 that are relativelyclose to one another, a higher resolution may be accomplished; whereas,assigning TC_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908 that are relatively far apart,creates a lower resolution. Thus, software may achieve the desiredquality-of-service goals via the policy manager 604 by adjusting theTC_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908 for each thread context to achieve theneeded resolution on the instruction execution rate.

If the OV bit 914 is set, the control logic 924 ignores the values ofthe TC_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908, TC_RATE 912, and TC_LEVEL 918, andinstead generates a value on the PM_TC_priority 652 signal equal to thevalue specified in the PRIO field 916. This allows software to bypassthe leaky bucket policy and directly control the priority of one or moreof the thread contexts, if necessary.

In one embodiment, if the TC_LEVEL 918 saturates to its maximum valuefor a predetermined number of clock cycles, then the microprocessor 100signals an interrupt to enable software to make thread schedulingadjustments at a higher level, in particular by changing the values inone or more of the TCSchedule registers 902. In one embodiment, theinterrupt may be masked by software.

In one embodiment, the microprocessor 100 instruction set includes aYIELD instruction, which a thread context may execute to instruct thescheduler 108 to stop issuing instructions for the thread context untila specified event occurs. In one embodiment, when a thread is YIELDed,the policy manager 604 temporarily disables updates of the thread'sTC_LEVEL 918 so that the thread's PM_TC_priority is preserved until thethread becomes unYIELDed. In another embodiment, the policy manager 604continues to update the thread's TC_LEVEL 918, likely causing thethread's PM_TC_priority to increase, such that when the thread becomesunYIELDed it will temporarily have a high priority to aid the thread inessentially priming its pump. In one embodiment, the behavior of thepolicy manager 604 toward a YIELDed thread is programmable by software.

It should be understood that although an embodiment is described inwhich specific numbers of bits are used to specify the PM_TC_priority652, TC_LEVEL_PARAMs 904/906/908, TC_RATE 912, TC_LEVEL 918, etc., thescheduler 108 is not limited in any way to the values used in theembodiment; rather, the scheduler 108 may be configured to use variousdifferent number of bits, priorities, levels, rates, etc. as required bythe particular application in which the microprocessor 100 is to beused. Furthermore, although a policy manager 604 has been describedwhich employs a modified leaky-bucket thread scheduling policy, itshould be understood that the policy manager 604 may be configured toemploy any of various thread scheduling policies while still enjoyingthe benefits of a bifurcated scheduler 108. For example, in oneembodiment, the policy manager 604 employs a simple round-robin threadscheduling policy in which the PM_TC_priority 652 outputs for all thethread contexts are tied to the same value. In another embodiment, thepolicy manager 604 employs a time-sliced thread scheduling policy inwhich the PM_TC_priority 652 output is raised to the highest priorityfor one thread context for a number of consecutive clock cyclesspecified in the TCSchedule register 902 of the thread context, then thePM_TC_priority 652 output is raised to the highest priority for anotherthread context for a, perhaps different, number of consecutive clockcycles specified in the TCSchedule register 902 of the thread context,and so on for each thread context in a time-sliced fashion.

In one embodiment, the microprocessor 100 instruction set includes aFORK instruction for allocating an available thread context andscheduling execution of a new thread within the newly allocated threadcontext. In one embodiment, when a thread context FORKs a new threadcontext, the TC_RATE 912 for the parent thread context is split betweenitself and the child thread context evenly, i.e., the new TC_RATE 912 isthe old TC_RATE 912 divided by two. This has the advantage of preventinga thread context from requesting more processing bandwidth thanoriginally allotted.

As may be observed from the foregoing, bifurcating the scheduler 108enables the dispatch scheduler 602, which is included in the processorcore 606, to be relatively simple, which enables the dispatch scheduler602 to be relatively small in terms of area and power, and places theapplication-specific complexity of the thread scheduling policy in thepolicy manager 604, which is outside the processor core 606. This isadvantageous since some applications may not require a complex policymanager 604 and can therefore not be burdened with the additional areaand power requirements that would be imposed upon all applications ifthe scheduler 108 were not bifurcated, as described herein.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a flowchart illustrating operation of thepolicy manager 604 of FIG. 9 according to the present invention isshown. Although operation is shown for only a single thread context inFIG. 10, the operation specified in FIG. 10 occurs within the policymanager 604 for each thread context. Flow begins at block 1002.

At block 1002, the policy manager 604 initializes the TC_LEVEL 918 tozero. Flow proceeds to block 1004.

At block 1004, the policy manager 604 waits one tick of the PM_gclk 658.Flow proceeds to decision block 1006.

At decision block 1006, the policy manager 604 determines whether 32PM_gclks 658 have ticked since the last time flow arrived at decisionblock 1006. If not flow proceeds to decision block 1012; otherwise, flowproceeds to block 1008.

At block 1008, the TC_LEVEL 918 is increased by twice the value ofTC_RATE 912 plus one. Flow proceeds to decision block 1012.

At decision block 1012, the policy manager 604 determines whetherPM_TC_instr_committed 644 is true. If not, flow proceeds to decisionblock 1016; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1014.

At block 1014, the TC_LEVEL 918 is decremented. Flow proceeds todecision block 1016.

At decision block 1016, the policy manager 604 determines whether the OVbit 914 is set. If not, flow proceeds to decision block 1022; otherwise,flow proceeds to block 1018.

At block 1018, the policy manager 604 generates a value onPM_TC_priority 652 equal to the value of the PRIO 916 field. Flowreturns to block 1004.

At decision block 1022, the policy manager 604 determines whether theTC_LEVEL 918 is greater than the TC_LEVEL_PARAM3 904 value. If not, flowproceeds to decision block 1026; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1024.

At block 1024, the policy manager 604 generates a value of 3 (thehighest priority) on PM_TC_priority 652. Flow returns to block 1004.

At decision block 1026, the policy manager 604 determines whether theTC_LEVEL 918 is greater than the TC_LEVEL_PARAM2 906 value. If not, flowproceeds to decision block 1032; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1028.

At block 1028, the policy manager 604 generates a value of 2 onPM_TC_priority 652. Flow returns to block 1004.

At decision block 1032, the policy manager 604 determines whether theTC_LEVEL 918 is greater than the TC_LEVEL_PARAM1 908 value. If not, flowproceeds to block 1036; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1034.

At block 1034, the policy manager 604 generates a value of 1 onPM_TC_priority 652. Flow returns to block 1004.

At block 1036, the policy manager 604 generates a value of 0 (lowestpriority) on PM_TC_priority 652. Flow returns to block 1004.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a block diagram illustrating in more detailthe dispatch scheduler 602 of FIG. 6 and the instruction selection logic202 of FIG. 2 according to an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention is shown. The embodiment of FIG. 11 is similar to theembodiment of FIG. 7; however, the dispatch scheduler 602 of theembodiment of FIG. 11 also includes an instruction pre-decoder 1108 anda stall likelihood priority generator 1104. The pre-decoder 1108pre-decodes an instruction 1114 to generate register usage information1106 about the instruction 1114. In one embodiment, the register usageinformation 1106 specifies which registers of the register file 112 areused as source registers of the instruction and in which stage of theexecution pipeline 114 the source register is needed. Additionally, theregister usage information 1106 specifies which register of the registerfile 112 is a destination register of the instruction and at which stageof the execution pipeline 114 the result of the instruction is ready tobe stored into the destination register.

The stall likelihood priority generator 1104 generates a stalllikelihood priority 1102 for the instruction 1114 based on the registerusage information and based on processor state information 1112 receivedfrom the microprocessor 100 pipeline. The processor state information1112 may include, but is not limited to: whether a load has missed inthe data cache 118; whether the missing load has already been fetched;the register usage (which may include the register usage information1106 generated by the instruction pre-decoder 1108), particularly thedestination register, of other instructions currently being executed inthe execution pipeline; the presence of an EHB instruction in theexecution pipeline; whether an ALU is presently busy executing anotherALU instruction; the number of pipeline stages currently between theinstruction being pre-decoded and the other instructions in theexecution pipeline; etc. In the embodiment of FIG. 11, the stalllikelihood priority 1102 comprises two bits that are included betweenthe issuable bit 746 and the PM_TC_priority bits 652 to form a 6-bitDS_TC_priority 208 of FIG. 2 for use by the instruction selection logic202 to select the selected instruction 204 of FIG. 2. In an alternateembodiment, the two bits of the stall likelihood priority 1102 areinterleaved with the two bits of the PM_TC_priority 652. In oneembodiment, the bits are interleaved in the following order from most toleast significant: MSB of stall likelihood priority 1102, MSB ofPM_TC_priority 652, LSB of stall likelihood priority 1102, LSB orPM_TC_priority 652. This embodiment is an interleaved embodimentconducive to maintaining high overall throughput by the executionpipeline 114.

The stall likelihood priority 1102 indicates the likelihood that theinstruction will be executed without stalling based on its registerusage. In one embodiment, the stall likelihood priority 1102 comprisestwo bits, creating four priority levels, and is generated by the stalllikelihood priority generator 1104 as follows. An instruction isassigned the highest stall likelihood priority 1102 if it is guaranteednot to stall. For example, the instruction has no register dependencies;or the instruction has enough spacing of pipeline stages between itselfand an instruction with which it has a dependency; or the data needed bythe instruction is available, such as because missing load data has beenreturned or because the result of a previous instruction is nowavailable, and therefore the dependency is no longer present. Aninstruction is assigned the lowest stall likelihood priority 1102 if itis guaranteed to stall. For example, the instruction follows a currentlyexecuting EHB instruction; the instruction is a load from an uncacheablememory region; the instruction is a load/store from/to a location ininter-thread communication (ITC) space; or the instruction cannot beexecuted back-to-back with another instruction in front of it due to adependency, such as a register dependency. A cacheable load instructionis assigned a next to lowest priority. An instruction is assigned a nextto highest priority of it is not guaranteed not to stall, but has a highlikelihood of not stalling, such as, for example in one embodiment, aninstruction that is dependent upon a result of a multiply, divide, or afloating-point instruction.

In one embodiment, the instruction 1114 is the instruction 206 of FIG. 2at the read pointer 326 of the instruction/skid buffer 106 for thethread context, i.e., the instruction 206 of the thread context that isthe next instruction eligible for issuing. In another embodiment, toimprove timing considerations, the instruction pre-decoder 1108generates the register usage information 1106 for instructions 1114 asthey are stored into the instruction/skid buffer 106 of FIG. 1 andstores the register usage information 1106 into the instruction/skidbuffer 106 along with the instruction 1114. As the instruction 1114/206is being read from the instruction/skid buffer 106, the pre-decodedregister usage information 1106 is provided to the stall likelihoodpriority generator 1104 at that time. That is, in this embodiment, theinstruction/skid buffers 106 are coupled between the instructionpre-decoder 1108 and the stall likelihood priority generator 1104.

Referring now to FIG. 12, a flowchart illustrating operation of thedispatch scheduler 602 of FIG. 11 according to the present invention isshown. The flowchart of FIG. 12 is similar to the flowchart of FIG. 8,and like-numbered blocks are alike. However, in the flowchart of FIG.12, block 808 is replaced with block 1208. Additionally, the flowchartof FIG. 12 includes an additional block 1205. Flow proceeds from block804 to block 1205.

At block 1205, for each thread context, the stall likelihood prioritygenerator 1104 generates the stall likelihood priority 1102 for theinstruction 1114 based on the processor state 1112 and the registerusage information 1106 of the instruction 1114 of FIG. 11. Flow proceedsfrom block 1205 to decision block 806.

At decision block 806, the dispatch scheduler 602 determines, byexamining the issuable 746 signal for each of the thread contexts,whether there are any thread contexts that have an issuable instruction206. If not, flow returns to block 804 until at least one thread contexthas an issuable instruction 206; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1208.

At block 1208, the dispatch scheduler 602 generates the DS_TC_priority208 for the instruction 206 of each thread context based on the issuable746 bit of the thread context, the stall likelihood priority 1102 of thenext instruction 206 to dispatch for the thread context, thePM_TC_priority 652 of the thread context, and the round-robin bit 748 ofthe PM_TC_priority 652 of the thread context. Flow proceeds from block1208 to block 812.

Referring now to FIG. 13 a block diagram illustrating shareddynamically-allocatable skid buffers of the microprocessor 100 of FIG. 1according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown.The microprocessor 100 includes the instruction fetcher 104 andscheduler 108 of FIG. 1. The microprocessor 100 also includes theinstruction selection logic 202 that outputs the selected instruction204 in response to the DS_TC_priority signals 208 of FIG. 2. Themicroprocessor 100 also includes a plurality of instruction buffers 1306for a plurality of respective thread contexts into which the instructionfetcher 104 of FIG. 1 fetches instructions. The microprocessor 100 alsoincludes a plurality of skid buffers 1312. In one embodiment, each ofthe instruction buffers 1306 and skid buffers 1312 comprises a circularFIFO similar to the structure of the instruction/skid buffers 106 ofFIG. 3. Advantageously, because the skid buffers 1312 are shared anddynamically allocated by the thread contexts, the number of skid buffers1312 may be less than the number of thread contexts. FIG. 13 illustratesan embodiment having three skid buffers 1312, denoted skid buffer A,skid buffer B, and skid buffer C. Additionally, each skid buffer 1312has an associated allocated register 1314 and locked register 1316. Theallocated register 1314 indicates whether the associated skid buffer1312 is allocated for use by a thread context and, if so, which of thethread contexts the skid buffer 1312 is allocated to. Similarly, thelocked register 1316 indicates whether the associated skid buffer 1312is locked for use by a thread context and, if so, which of the threadcontexts the skid buffer 1312 is locked for. Allocating and locking skidbuffers 1312 for thread contexts is discussed in more detail below withrespect to FIG. 14.

The microprocessor 100 also includes a plurality of muxes 1322associated with each of the skid buffers 1312. Each mux 1322 has itsoutput coupled to the input of its associated skid buffer 1312. Each mux1322 receives as its inputs the output of each of the instructionbuffers 1306. The microprocessor 100 also includes a plurality of muxes1324 associated with each of the instruction buffers 1306. Each mux 1324outputs to the instruction selection logic 202 an instruction 206 ofFIG. 2 of its respective thread context. Each mux 1324 receives on oneinput the output of its respective instruction buffer 1306. Each mux1324 receives on its remaining inputs the output of each of the skidbuffers 1312.

Unlike the instruction/skid buffers 106 of FIG. 2, the skid buffers 1312of FIG. 13 are distinct from the instruction buffers 1306 and are sharedand dynamically allocated by the thread contexts on an as-needed basis.This potentially provides a more efficient instruction bufferingsolution, particularly, a higher performance solution given the sameamount of space and power, or a space and power reduction given asimilar level of performance. The microprocessor 100 also includesbuffer control logic 1332 for controlling the operation of theinstruction buffers 1306, skid buffers 1312, muxes 1322 and 1324,allocated registers 1314, and locked registers 1316. Operation of theinstruction buffers 1306 and skid buffers 1312 of FIG. 13 will now bedescribed with respect to FIG. 14.

Referring now to FIG. 14, three flowcharts illustrating operation of theskid buffers of FIG. 13 according to the present invention are shown.Each of the flowcharts illustrates actions performed by the instructionbuffers 1306 and skid buffers 1312 of FIG. 13 in response to a differentevent or set of events. Flow of the first flowchart begins at block1404.

At block 1404, the dispatch scheduler 602 of FIG. 6 issues aninstruction from the instruction buffer 1306. It is noted that theinstruction fetcher 104 is continuously writing instructions into theinstruction buffer 1306 associated with a thread context, and inparticular has written into the instruction buffer 1306 the instructionwhich is issued at block 1404. Flow proceeds to decision block 1406.

At decision block 1406, buffer control logic 1332 determines whether askid buffer 1312 is already allocated for the thread context by readingthe allocated registers 1314 of FIG. 13. If so, flow proceeds to block1412; otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 1408 to determinewhether a skid buffer 1312 may be allocated for the thread context.

At decision block 1408, buffer control logic 1332 determines whether allskid buffers are locked by reading the locked registers 1316 of FIG. 13.If not, flow proceeds to block 1414; otherwise, flow ends since no skidbuffer 1312 may be allocated for the thread context, which implies thatif the thread context is subsequently flushed by the execution pipeline,the flushed instructions must be re-fetched.

At block 1412, the instruction dispatched at block 1404 is written intothe skid buffer 1312 that was previously allocated for the threadcontext, and the instruction is removed from the instruction buffer1306. Flow ends at block 1412.

At block 1414, buffer control logic 1332 allocates a skid buffer 1312for the thread context. In one embodiment, the buffer control logic 1332allocates a skid buffer 1312 for the thread context by writing thethread context identifier to the allocated register 1314 associated withthe allocated skid buffer 1312. In one embodiment, the buffer controllogic 1332 allocates the emptiest skid buffer 1312. In anotherembodiment, the buffer control logic 1332 allocates the skid buffers1312 on a least recently used basis. In another embodiment, the buffercontrol logic 1332 allocates the skid buffers 1312 on a least recentlyunlocked basis. In another embodiment, the buffer control logic 1332allocates the skid buffer 1312 whose thread context currently has thelowest priority. Flow proceeds from block 1414 to block 1412 to writethe instruction into the allocated skid buffer 1312.

Flow of the second flowchart begins at block 1442.

At block 1442, an execution unit 114 of FIG. 1 signals a stalling event126 for a thread context. Flow proceeds to block 1444.

At block 1444, the execution unit 114 signals a TC_flush 122 for thethread context. Flow proceeds to decision block 1446.

At decision block 1446, buffer control logic 1332 determines whether askid buffer 1312 is allocated for the thread context by reading theallocated registers 1314 of FIG. 13. If not, flow proceeds to block1452; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1448.

At block 1448, buffer control logic 1332 locks the allocated skid buffer1312 for the thread context. In one embodiment, the buffer control logic1332 locks the skid buffer 1312 for the thread context by writing thethread context identifier to the locked register 1316 associated withthe skid buffer 1312. Flow ends at block 1448.

At block 1452, the buffer control logic 1332 flushes the instructionbuffer 1306 of the thread context flushed by the execution unit 114.Flow ends at block 1452.

Flow of the third flowchart begins at block 1482.

At block 1482, an execution unit 114 signals a relevant unstalling event128 for a thread context. Flow proceeds to decision block 1484.

At decision block 1484, buffer control logic 1332 determines whether askid buffer 1312 is locked for the thread context by reading the lockedregisters 1316. If so, flow proceeds to block 1488; otherwise, flowproceeds to block 1486.

At block 1486, the scheduler 108 issues instructions for the threadcontext from the instruction buffer 1306 associated with the threadcontext. It is noted that these instructions had to be re-fetched intothe instruction buffer 1306 since no skid buffer 1312 was locked for thethread context. Flow ends at block 1486.

At block 1488, the scheduler 108 issues instructions for the threadcontext from the skid buffer 1312 locked for the thread context at block1448 of the second flowchart until the skid buffer 1312 is empty oruntil the skid buffer 1312 is flushed, for example, in response to anexception or interrupt or branch misprediction correction. It is notedthat these instructions advantageously did not have to be re-fetched.Flow proceeds to block 1492.

At block 1492, the buffer control logic 1332 unlocks the skid buffer1312 that was locked for the thread context at block 1448 of the secondflowchart. Flow ends at block 1492.

Referring now to FIG. 15, a block diagram illustrating a singleinstruction/skid buffer of the microprocessor 100 of FIG. 1 that isshared by all the thread contexts according to an alternate embodimentof the present invention is shown. The microprocessor 100 of FIG. 15includes the instruction fetcher 104 and scheduler 108 of FIG. 1. Themicroprocessor 100 also includes a single instruction/skid buffer 1506into which the instruction fetcher 104 fetches instructions for allthread contexts. The microprocessor 100 also includes buffer controllogic 1502 that receives the DS_TC_priority signals 208 of FIG. 2 fromthe scheduler 108. The buffer control logic 1502 controls theinstruction/skid buffer 1506 to output the selected instruction 204 ofFIG. 2 for provision to the execution units 114.

The single instruction/skid buffer 1506 of FIG. 15 is a random accessmemory (RAM) for storing instructions from all the thread contexts.Consequently, the buffer control logic 1502 maintains a single writepointer (WP) and full_count across all thread contexts that functionsimilar to those described above with respect to FIG. 3. In particular,the write pointer specifies the address of the next location in the RAM1506 to be written regardless of the thread context of the instruction.Similarly, the full_count is incremented each time an instruction iswritten into the RAM 1506 and decremented each time an instruction hasbeen committed for execution regardless of the thread context of theinstruction.

In contrast, the buffer control logic 1502 maintains a separate readpointer (RP), commit pointer (CP), and empty_count for each threadcontext similar to those described above with respect to FIG. 3. Inparticular, the read pointer specifies the address of the next locationin the RAM 1506 to be read for the respective thread context; the commitpointer indicates the address of the location in the RAM 1506 of thenext instruction to be committed for the respective thread context; andthe empty_count is incremented each time an instruction is written intothe RAM 1506 for the respective thread context and decremented each timethe scheduler 108 reads an instruction from the RAM 1506 for therespective thread context.

In one embodiment, the buffer control logic 1502 maintains a linked-listfor each thread context that specifies the locations within the RAM 1506of the valid instructions for the thread context in the order in whichthe instructions were fetched into the RAM 1506. The linked list isupdated each time an instruction is written into the RAM 1506 and isused to update the read pointer and commit pointer for each threadcontext.

The buffer control logic 1502 receives the DS_TC_priority signals 208from the scheduler 108 when the scheduler 108 requests an instruction,and the buffer control logic 1502 responsively selects one of the threadcontexts for instruction dispatch and generates the appropriate addressto the RAM 1506 to cause the RAM 1506 to output the instruction 204 ofthe thread context with the highest priority indicated by theDS_TC_priority signals 208.

Although the present invention and its objects, features, and advantageshave been described in detail, other embodiments are encompassed by theinvention. For example, although embodiments have been described inwhich the scheduler 108 is bifurcated and in which the parameterizedleaky-bucket scheduling policy is included in the portion of thescheduler 108 outside the processor core 606, i.e., outside thecustomer-modifiable portion of the processor 100, it should beunderstood that employing a parameterized leaky-bucket scheduler is notlimited to a bifurcated scheduler, but may be adapted to anon-bifurcated scheduler, as well as to a scheduler partitioned in anyof various manners. In addition, although a bifurcated scheduler hasbeen described in which the policy manager 604 enforces a leaky-bucketscheduling policy, the bifurcated scheduler 108 is not limited to aleaky-bucket thread scheduling policy; rather, the thread schedulingpolicy enforced by the policy manager of the bifurcated scheduler may beaccording to any thread scheduling algorithm. Still further, although anembodiment has been described in which the policy manager 604 updatesthe thread context priorities based on an indication that an instructionhas been committed for execution, in other embodiments the policymanager 604 may update the thread context priorities based on otherinformation from the processor core 606, such as an indication that aninstruction has been issued (such as indicated by the PM_TC_inst_issuedsignals 646), an indication that an instruction has been completed orretired from the microprocessor 100, or some other instructionexecution-related indication. Additionally, although a particularcalculation has been described for employing the TC_RATE 912 to updatethe TC_LEVEL 918, the TC_LEVEL 918 may be updated according to othermanners using the TC_RATE 912.

Referring now to FIG. 16, a block diagram illustrating the dispatchscheduler 602 of FIG. 6 including round-robin logic 712 of FIGS. 7 and11 according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. FIG.16 comprises FIGS. 16A and 16B.

FIG. 16A illustrates the round-robin logic 712 of FIGS. 7 and 11according to one embodiment of the present invention. The round-robinlogic 712 includes four round-robin generators 1606: one for each of thefour PM_TC_priority levels 652. Each of the round-robin generators 1606receives an E vector 1646. The E vector 1646 is an n-bit vector, where nis the number of thread contexts and each of the thread contexts has acorresponding bit in the E vector 1646. A set bit in the E vector 1646indicates that the corresponding thread context is enabled forinstruction dispatching. In one embodiment, the E vector 1646 bits arethe issuable bits 746 of FIGS. 7 and 11.

Each of the round-robin generators 1606 also receives an L vector 1602that is unique to the corresponding PM_TC_priority 652. That is, thereis an L vector 1602 for each of the four PM_TC_priority 652 levels. TheL vectors 1602 are also n-bit vectors, where n is the number of threadcontexts and each of the thread contexts has a corresponding bit in eachof the four L vectors 1602. A set bit in an L vector 1602 indicates thatthe corresponding thread context was the last thread context at thecorresponding PM_TC_priority 652 actually selected for instructiondispatching by the dispatch scheduler 602. Thus, for example, if thenumber of thread contexts is eight, an L vector 1602 value of 00000100for PM_TC_priority 652 level 1 indicates thread context 2 was the lastthread context dispatched at PM_TC_priority 652 level 1. In oneembodiment, the L vector 1602 is generated by the instruction selectionlogic 202 and stored for provision to the round-robin logic 712. In oneembodiment, each L vector 1602 is updated only when the dispatchscheduler 602 selects for dispatch an instruction from a thread contextat the corresponding PM_TC_priority 652. Thus, advantageously, the Lvector 1602 is maintained for each PM_TC_priority 652 level so thatround-robin fairness is accomplished at each PM_TC_priority 652 levelindependent of the other PM_TC_priority 652 levels.

Each of the round-robin generators 1606 generates an N vector 1604 thatis unique to the corresponding PM_TC_priority 652. The N vectors 1604are also n-bit vectors, where n is the number of thread contexts andeach of the thread contexts has a corresponding bit in each of the fourN vectors 1604. A set bit in an N vector 1604 indicates that thecorresponding thread context is the next thread context in round-robinorder to be selected at the corresponding PM_TC_priority 652.

The round-robin logic 712 includes n four-input muxes 1608: one for eachof the n thread contexts. Each mux 1608 receives its corresponding bitfrom each of the four N vectors 1604. That is, the mux 1608 for threadcontext 0 receives bit 0 from each of the N vectors 1604; mux 1608 forthread context 1 receives bit 1 from each of the N vectors 1604; and soforth, to the mux 1608 for thread context n−1 that receives bit n−1 fromeach of the N vectors 1604. Each mux 1608 also receives as a selectcontrol input the PM_TC_priority 652 value for its respective threadcontext. Each of the muxes 1608 selects the input specified by thePM_TC_priority 652 value. The output of each of the muxes 1608 is thecorresponding round-robin bit 748 of FIGS. 7 and 11. The round-robinbits 748 are provided to the selection logic 202 of FIG. 16B.

Referring now to FIG. 16B, the round-robin bit 748 of each threadcontext is combined with its corresponding PM_TC_priority 652 bits andissuable bit 746 to form its corresponding DS_TC_priority 208 of FIGS. 7and 11. FIG. 16B also includes the selection logic 202 of FIG. 7. In oneembodiment, the comparators 714 of FIG. 7 are greater-than-or-equal(GTE) comparators. That is, the GTE comparators 714 compare the twoDS_TC_priority 208 input values and if the top value isgreater-than-or-equal to the lower value, the GTE comparator 714 outputsa control signal to cause its respective mux 724 to select the topvalue. The selection logic 202 is configured such that the top valuealways corresponds to a lower enumerated thread context, i.e., a threadcontext which has a bit in the L vectors 1602, N vectors 1604, and Evector 1646 that is more to the right, i.e., a less significant bit,than the bottom value. Thus, for example, in FIG. 16B, one of thecomparators 714 receives the DS_TC_priority 208 for thread context 0 andthread context 1; if the DS_TC_priority 208 for thread context 0 isgreater than or equal to the DS_TC_priority 208 for thread context 1,then the comparator 714 will control its mux 724 to select theinstruction 206 and DS_TC_priority 208 for thread context 0; otherwise(i.e., only if the DS_TC_priority 208 for thread context 0 is less thanthe DS_TC_priority 208 for thread context 1), the comparator 714 willcontrol its mux 724 to select the instruction 206 and DS_TC_priority 208for thread context 1.

Referring now to FIG. 17, a block diagram illustrating a round-robingenerator 1606 of FIG. 16 according to one embodiment of the presentinvention is shown. Although only one round-robin generator 1606 isshown in FIG. 17, the dispatch scheduler 602 comprises one round-robingenerator 1606 for each PM_TC_priority 652, as shown in FIG. 16A.

The round-robin generator 1606 includes a first set of inverters 1718that receive the L vector 1602 of FIG. 16 and generate an n-bit ˜Lvector 1792. The round-robin generator 1606 also includes a second setof inverters 1716 that receive the E vector 1646 of FIG. 16 and generatean n-bit ˜E vector 1796.

The round-robin generator 1606 also includes a barrel-incrementer 1712that receives the L vector 1602, the ˜L vector 1792, and the ˜E vector1796. The barrel-incrementer 1712 generates an S vector 1704, which isthe sum of the L vector 1602 rotated left 1-bit and the Boolean AND ofthe ˜E vector 1796 and the ˜L vector 1792, according to two embodiments,as described in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 18A and 18B. Intwo other embodiments, the barrel-incrementer 1712 generates an S vector1704, which is the sum of the L vector 1602 rotated left 1-bit and the˜E vector 1796, as described in more detail below with respect to FIGS.18C and 18D.

The round-robin generator 1606 also includes a set of AND gates 1714that perform the Boolean AND of the S vector 1704 and the E vector 1646to generate the N vector 1604 of FIG. 16.

Referring now to FIG. 18A, a block diagram illustrating thebarrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 17 according to one embodiment of thepresent invention is shown. The barrel-incrementer 1712 includes aplurality of full-adders 1802 coupled in series. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 18A, the full-adders 1802 are 1-bit full-adders, andthe number of 1-bit full-adders 1802 is n, where n is the number ofthread contexts. However, the barrel-incrementer 1712 may be incrementedwith fewer full-adders capable of adding larger addends, depending uponthe number of thread contexts and speed and power requirements.

In the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 18A, each full-adder 1802receives two addend bits and a carry-in bit and generates acorresponding sum bit of the S vector 1704 and a carry-out bit. Eachfull-adder 1802 receives as its carry-in the carry-out of the full-adder1802 rotatively to its right. Thus, the right-most full-adder 1802receives as its carry-in the carry-out of the left-most full-adder 1802.The first addend input to each of the full-adders 1802 is the BooleanAND of the corresponding ˜E vector 1796 and ˜L vector 1792 bits. Thesecond addend input to each of the full-adders 1802 is the 1-bit leftrotated version of the corresponding L vector 1602 bit. In theembodiment of FIG. 18A, the ˜E vector 1796 is Boolean ANDed with the ˜Lvector 1792 to guarantee that at least one bit of the first addend tothe full adders 1802 is clear. This prevents the single set incrementbit of the second addend (the 1-bit left rotated L vector 1602) frominfinitely rippling around the ring of full-adders 1802 of thebarrel-incrementer 1712. As may be observed from FIG. 18A, the apparatusis aptly referred to as a “barrel-incrementer” because it increments oneaddend, namely the ˜E vector 1796 (modified to guarantee at least oneclear bit), by a single set bit in a left-rotative manner; furthermore,the single increment bit may increment the addend at any position in theaddend.

By rotating left 1-bit the single set bit L vector 1602, the single setbit will be in the bit position with respect to the full-adders 1802corresponding to the next thread context 1-bit rotatively left of thelast thread context at the corresponding PM_TC_priority 652 for whichthe dispatch scheduler 602 dispatched an instruction. By using the ˜Evector 1796 as the first addend input, the first addend has a set bit ineach thread context position that is not enabled and a clear bit in eachthread context position that is enabled. Consequently, the single setbit of the 1-bit left-rotated L vector 1602 addend will rotativelyripple left from its bit position until it reaches a clear bit position,i.e., a bit position of a thread context that is enabled. This isillustrated by the example here, in which only thread contexts 1 and 3are enabled, and thread context 3 was the last dispatched thread contextat the PM_TC_priority 652:˜E=11110101L=00001000L′=00010000(L left-rotated 1-bit)˜E&˜L=11110101S=00000110(˜E & ˜L barrel-incremented by L′)

However, if no thread contexts are enabled, the single set bit of the1-bit left-rotated L vector 1602 addend will ripple left from its bitposition until it returns where it started and stop there, as shownhere:˜E=11111111L=00001000L′=00010000(L left-rotated 1-bit)˜E&˜L=11110111S=00001000(˜E & ˜L barrel-incremented by L′)

Further, if the single set bit of the 1-bit left-rotated L vector 1602addend is clear in the ˜E vector 1796, such as bit 4 here below, thenbit 4 of the S vector 1704 will be set and the rotated L vector 1602 setbit will not ripple any further:˜E=11100011L=00001000L′=00010000(L left-rotated 1-bit)˜E & ˜L=11100011S=11110011(˜E & ˜L barrel-incremented by L′)

Furthermore, the AND gate 1714 of FIG. 17 functions to guarantee thatonly one bit of the N vector 1604 is set. A bit vector in which only onebit is set is commonly referred to as a 1-hot, or one-hot, vector. Forexample, in the last example above, even though the S vector 1704 hasmultiple bits set, the AND gate 1714 generates a resulting N vector 1604with a single set bit, as here:˜E=11100011L=00001000L′=00010000˜E & ˜L=11100011S=11110011E=00011100N=00010000

Generally, the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 18A may be described bythe following equation:{Cout.i,Sum.i}=A.i+B.i+Cin.i,

where A.i is one of the n bits of the ˜E vector 1796 Boolean ANDed withthe corresponding bit of the ˜L vector 1792, B.i is a 1-bit left rotatedcorresponding one of the n bits of the L vector 1602, Sum.i is a binarysum of (A.i+B.i+Cin.i), Cout.i is the carry out of (A.i+B.i+Cin.i),Cin.i=Cout.i−1, and Cin.0=Cout.n−1.

As may be observed from the foregoing, an advantage of the round-robingenerator 1606 of FIG. 17 employing the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG.18A is that its complexity is n, where n is the number of threadcontexts, rather than n², as the conventional round-robin circuit. Thatis, the round-robin generator 1606 built around the barrel-incrementer1712 of FIG. 18A scales linearly with the number of thread contexts. Thesame is true of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIGS. 18B-18D below.

Referring now to FIG. 18B, a block diagram illustrating thebarrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 17 according to an alternate embodimentof the present invention is shown. The barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG.18B is an optimized version of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 18Ain which the full-adders 1802 are replaced with the combination of ahalf-adder 1812 and an OR gate 1814. The half-adder 1812 receives as itscarry-in the output of the OR gate 1814. The OR gate 1814 receives asits two inputs the carry-out of the half-adder 1812 to its right and thecorresponding 1-bit left-rotated L vector 1602 bit. Thus, collectively,the half-adder 1812 and OR gate 1814 combination performs the samefunction as the full-adder 1802 of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG.18A. The optimization of replacing the full-adder 1802 will a half-adder1812 and OR gate 1814 is possible due to the fact that it is known thatonly one of the inputs to the OR gate 1814, if at all, will be true.That is, only one of the L vector 1602 input bit or the carry-out of thehalf-adder 1812 to the right will be true. An advantage of thebarrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 18B is that it may be smaller andconsume less power than the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 18A since itis optimized to take advantage of the fact that only one of the inputsto the OR gate 1814 will be true.

Generally, the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 18B may be described bythe following equation:{Cout.i,Sum.i}=A.i+(B.i OR Cin.i),

where A.i is one of the n bits of the ˜E vector 1796 Boolean ANDed withthe corresponding bit of the ˜L vector 1792, B.i is a 1-bit left rotatedcorresponding one of the n bits of the L vector 1602, Sum.i is a binarysum of A.i+(B.i OR Cin.i), Cout.i is the carry out of A.i+(B.i ORCin.i), Cin.i=Cout.i−1, and Cin.0=Cout.n−1.

Because the embodiments of the barrel-incrementers 1712 of FIGS. 18A and18B comprise a ring of adders in series, some automated logic synthesistools may have difficulty synthesizing the circuit. In particular, theymay generate a timing loop. To alleviate this problem, the embodimentsof FIGS. 18C and 18D break the ring of adders by employing two rows ofadders, as will now be described.

Referring now to FIG. 18C, a block diagram illustrating thebarrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 17 according to an alternate embodimentof the present invention is shown. The embodiment of FIG. 18C employs afirst row of full-adders 1822 and a second row of full-adders 1824coupled in series, but not in a ring. That is, the carry-out of theleft-most full-adder 1824 of the second row is not provided to thecarry-in of the right-most full-adder 1822 of the first row. Rather, thefirst row of full-adders 1822 is coupled in series, and receives thesame inputs as the full-adders 1802 of FIG. 18A; however, a binary zerovalue is provided to the carry-in of the right-most full-adder 1822 ofthe first row, the carry-out of the left-most full-adder 1822 of thefirst row is provided as the carry in the of the right-most full-adder1824 of the second row, and the carry-out of the left-most full-adder1824 of the second row is discarded. Furthermore, the sum output of thefirst row full-adders 1822, referred to as intermediate n-bit sum S′ inFIG. 18C, is provided as the first addend input to the second rowfull-adders 1824. Still further, the second addend input to the secondrow full-adders 1824 is a binary zero, except for the right-most secondrow full-adder 1824, which receives the left-most bit of the L vector1602. The second row of full-adders 1824 generates the S vector 1704. Asmay be observed, advantageously, the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 18Cdoes not include a ring and therefore may be synthesized moresuccessfully by some synthesis software tools than the embodiments ofFIGS. 18A and 18B. However, a disadvantage of the barrel-incrementer1712 of FIG. 18C is that it is larger than the embodiments of FIGS. 18Aand 18B, and consumes more power, although its complexity isadvantageously still n, rather than n². It is also noted that theembodiments of FIGS. 18C and 8D do not need the ˜L vector 1792 inputsince there is not a ring of adders for the single increment bit of thesecond addend (i.e., the L vector 1602) to infinitely ripple around.

Referring now to FIG. 18D, a block diagram illustrating thebarrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 17 according to an alternate embodimentof the present invention is shown. The barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG.18D is an optimized version of the barrel-incrementer 1712 of FIG. 18Cin which each of the first row of full-adders 1822 is replaced with thecombination of a half-adder 1832 and an OR gate 1834, similar to theembodiment of FIG. 18B; and, each of the second row full-adders 1824 isreplaced with a half-adder 1836. Additionally, the second row includes asingle OR gate 1838 that receives the left-most bit of the L vector 1602and the carry-out of the left-most half-adder 1832 of the first row; theOR gate 1838 provides its output to the carry-in of the right-mosthalf-adder 1836 of the second row. Thus, the barrel-incrementer 1712 ofFIG. 18D enjoys the optimization benefits of the barrel-incrementer 1712of FIG. 18B and the synthesis tool benefits of the barrel-incrementer1712 of FIG. 18C.

Referring now to FIG. 19A, a block diagram illustrating an example ofoperation of the dispatch scheduler 602 employing the round-robingenerators 1606 of FIG. 16 according the present invention is shown.FIG. 19A includes collectively the round-robin generators 1606 and muxes1608 of FIG. 16A. In the example, the number of thread contexts (denotedn) is 5, and the thread contexts are denoted 0 through 4. In theexample, the number of PM_TC_priority 652 levels is 4, denoted 0 through3.

In the example of FIG. 19A, all bits of the E vector 1646 are set, i.e.,all thread contexts are enabled for dispatching an instruction; all ofthe thread contexts are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3; the L vector 1602for PM_TC_priority 652 level 3 is 00001, indicating the last threadcontext from which the dispatch scheduler 602 dispatched an instructionat PM_TC_priority 652 level 3 was thread context 0. The L vector 1602for PM_TC_priority 652 levels 2, 1, and 0, are 00100, 10000, and 00001,respectively.

Given the inputs just described, the round-robin generators 1606generate an N vector 1604 for PM_TC_priority 652 level 3 with a value of00010, indicating that thread context 1 is selected as the next threadcontext in round-robin order for dispatch at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3.Thread context 1 is selected since it is the first thread contextrotatively left of thread context 0 that is enabled, as indicated by aset bit in the E vector 1646. The round-robin generators 1606 generatean N vector 1604 value of 01000, 00001, and 00010 for PM_TC_priority 652levels 2, 1, and 0, respectively.

Because each of the thread contexts are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3,the corresponding mux 1608 for each thread context selects thecorresponding bit of the N vector 1604 of PM_TC_priority 652 level 3.Consequently, the round-robin bit 748 for thread context 0 (denoted R[0]in FIG. 19A) is 0; the round-robin bit 748 for thread context 1 is 1;the round-robin bit 748 for thread context 2 is 0; the round-robin bit748 for thread context 3 is 0; and the round-robin bit 748 for threadcontext 4 is 0. Therefore, the resulting DS_TC_priority 208 for threadcontexts 0 through 4 are: 1110, 1111, 1110, 1110, and 1110,respectively. Consequently, the selection logic 202 selects threadcontext 1 for instruction dispatch because it has the greatestDS_TC_priority 208. It is noted that although all the thread contextsare enabled and all are at the same PM_TC_priority 652, thread context 1is selected because it is the next thread context in left-rotativeround-robin order from the last selected thread context (which wasthread context 0) at the highest enabled PM_TC_priority 652 level.

Referring now to FIG. 19B, a block diagram illustrating a second exampleof operation of the dispatch scheduler 602 employing the round-robingenerators 1606 of FIG. 16 according the present invention is shown.FIG. 19B is similar to FIG. 19A; however, the input conditions aredifferent. In the example of FIG. 19B, the E vector 1646 value is 01011,i.e., only thread contexts 0, 1, and 3 are enabled for dispatching aninstruction; thread contexts 2 and 4 are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3,thread contexts 1 and 3 are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 2, and threadcontext 0 is at PM_TC_priority 652 level 1; the L vector 1602 forPM_TC_priority 652 levels 3 through 0 are 01000, 00010, 10000, 00010,indicating the last thread context from which the dispatch scheduler 602dispatched an instruction at PM_TC_priority 652 levels 3 through 0 are3, 1, 4, and 1, respectively.

Given the inputs just described, the round-robin generators 1606generate an N vector 1604 for PM_TC_priority 652 levels 3 through 0 witha value of 00001, 01000, 00001, and 01000, respectively, indicating thatthread contexts 0, 3, 0, and 3, respectively, are selected as the nextthread context in round-robin order for dispatch within PM_TC_priority652 levels 3 through 0, respectively. It is noted that thread context 4is skipped over in the PM_TC_priority 652 level 3 N vector 1604 sincethread context 4 is not enabled, even though thread context 4 is thenext thread context rotatively-left of thread context 3, which was thelast selected thread context at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3; similarly,thread context 2 is skipped over in PM_TC_priority 652 levels 2 and 0since thread context 2 is not enabled.

Because thread contexts 2 and 4 are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3, thecorresponding muxes 1608 select the corresponding bit of the N vector1604 of PM_TC_priority 652 level 3; because thread contexts 1 and 3 areat PM_TC_priority 652 level 2, the corresponding muxes 1608 select thecorresponding bit of the N vector 1604 of PM_TC_priority 652 level 2;because thread context 0 is at PM_TC_priority 652 level 1, thecorresponding mux 1608 selects the corresponding bit of the N vector1604 of PM_TC_priority 652 level 1. Consequently, the round-robin bit748 for thread contexts 0 through 4 are 1, 0, 0, 1, and 0, respectively.Therefore, the resulting DS_TC_priority 208 for thread contexts 0through 4 are: 1011, 1100, 0110, 1101, and 0110, respectively.Consequently, the selection logic 202 selects thread context 3 forinstruction dispatch because it has the greatest DS_TC_priority 208. Itis noted that although thread context 1 is also enabled and at thehighest PM_TC_priority 652 that is enabled (PM_TC_priority 652 level 2),thread context 3 is selected because the bit corresponding to threadcontext 3 in the N vector 1604 for PM_TC_priority 652 level 2 is set(hence the round-robin bit 748 for thread context 3 is set) and the bitcorresponding to thread context 1 is clear (hence the round-robin bit748 for thread context 1 is clear).

Referring now to FIG. 20, a block diagram illustrating the dispatchscheduler 602 of FIG. 6 including round-robin logic 712 of FIGS. 7 and11 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention isshown. The dispatch scheduler 602 of FIG. 20 is similar to the dispatchscheduler 602 of FIG. 16, except that the round-robin generators 2006 ofFIG. 20 are different from the round-robin generators 1606 of FIG. 16,as described below with respect to FIGS. 21 and 22. The portion of thedispatch scheduler 602 shown in FIG. 16B is similar to a like portion ofthe alternate embodiment of FIG. 20, and is therefore not duplicated inthe Figures.

In one aspect, the round-robin generators 2006 of FIG. 20 are differentfrom the round-robin generators 1606 of FIG. 16 because they do notreceive the E vector 1646. In another aspect, the round-robin generators2006 each generate a corresponding NSE vector 2004, rather than the Nvector 1604 generated by the round-robin generators 1606 of FIG. 16. TheNSE vectors 2004 are similar to the N vectors 1604, however, the NSEvectors 2004 are sign-extended; thus, the NSE vectors 2004 are not1-hot. Consequently, by design, two or more thread contexts may have anequal highest DS_TC_priority 208. The greater-than-or-equal comparators714 of FIG. 16B work in conjunction with the round-robin bits 748selected from the NSE vectors 2004 to select the desired round-robinthread context in the highest enabled PM_TC_priority 652, as describedbelow. For example, assume the NSE vector 2004 at one of thePM_TC_priority 652 levels is 11100. This value indicates that threadcontexts 4, 3, and 2 have priority over thread contexts 1 and 0 withrespect to round-robin order selection. If, for example, all of thethread contexts are at this PM_TC_priority 652 level, the GTEcomparators 714 of the dispatch scheduler 602 will search for anissuable thread context in the order 2, 3, 4, 0, 1.

Referring now to FIG. 21, a block diagram illustrating the round-robingenerator 2006 of FIG. 20 according to one embodiment of the presentinvention is shown. Although only one round-robin generator 2006 isshown in FIG. 21, the dispatch scheduler 602 comprises one round-robingenerator 2006 for each PM_TC_priority 652, as shown in FIG. 20. Anadvantage of the alternate embodiment of the round-robin generator 2006of FIG. 21 that employs the sign-extended character of the NSE vector2004 is that the NSE vectors 2004 may be calculated independent of the Evector 1646, i.e., independent of the instruction issuability of thethread contexts, unlike the round-robin generator 1606 embodiment ofFIG. 17.

The round-robin generator 2006 includes a mux 2102 that receives as itstwo inputs the L vector 1602 and the output of a register 2124. Theregister 2124 receives and stores the output of the mux 2102. The mux2102 also receives an instr_dispatched control signal 2158 that is trueif an instruction is dispatched from the corresponding PM_TC_priority652 during the current dispatch cycle; otherwise, the instr_dispatchedcontrol signal 2158 is false. In one embodiment, the instr_dispatchedsignal 2158 may be false for all PM_TC_priority 652 levels, such as ifno thread contexts have an issuable instruction or if the executionpipeline 114 is stalled and currently unable to receive instructions toexecute. The mux 2102 selects the L vector 1602 input if theinstr_dispatched control signal 2158 is true; otherwise, the mux 2102selects the register 2124 output. Thus, mux 2102 and register 2124 workin combination to retain the old L vector 1602 value until aninstruction is dispatched by the dispatch scheduler 602 at thecorresponding PM_TC_priority 652 level. Thus, advantageously,round-robin order is retained within the PM_TC_priority 652 levelindependent of the other PM_TC_priority 652 levels.

The round-robin generator 2006 also includes a rotate left 1-bitfunction 2106 configured to receive and rotate the output of theregister 2124 left 1-bit. Hence, the output of the rotate left 1-bitfunction 2106 is a 1-hot vector pointing to the thread contextrotatively-left of the last dispatched thread context bit. For example,if n is 8, and if the L vector 1602 value is 10000000, then the outputof the rotate left 1-bit function 2106 is 00000001.

The round-robin generator 2006 also includes a sign-extender 2108configured to receive the output of the rotate left 1-bit function 2106and to sign-extend it to generate the NSE vector 2004 of FIG. 20. Forexample, if the L vector 1602 value is 00000100, then the output of thesign-extender 2108 is 11111000. In one embodiment, the rotate left 1-bitfunction 2106 does not include any active logic, but simply comprisessignal wires routed appropriately from the register 2124 output to thesign-extender 2108 input to accomplish the 1-bit left rotation.

Referring now to FIG. 22A, a block diagram illustrating a first exampleof operation of the dispatch scheduler 602 having round-robin generators2006 of FIG. 20 according the present invention is shown. FIG. 22A issimilar to FIG. 19A; however, FIG. 22A illustrates collectively theround-robin generators 2006, rather than the round-robin generators 1606of FIG. 16. Additionally, the L vector 1602 input for PM_TC_priority 652level 3 is 00010, rather than 00001. Finally, the round-robin generators2006 do not receive the E vector 1646.

Given the inputs of FIG. 22A, the round-robin generators 2006 generatean NSE vector 2004 for PM_TC_priority 652 level 3 with a value of 11100,indicating that thread context 2 is selected as the next thread contextin round-robin order for dispatch at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3. Threadcontext 2 is selected since it is the first thread context rotativelyleft of thread context 1. The round-robin generators 2006 generate anNSE vector 2004 value of 11000, 11111, and 11110 for PM_TC_priority 652levels 2, 1, and 0, respectively.

Because each of the thread contexts are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3,the corresponding mux 1608 for each thread context selects thecorresponding bit of the N vector 2004 of PM_TC_priority 652 level 3.Consequently, the round-robin bit 748 for thread context 0 is 0; theround-robin bit 748 for thread context 1 is 0; the round-robin bit 748for thread context 2 is 1; the round-robin bit 748 for thread context 3is 1; and the round-robin bit 748 for thread context 4 is 1. Therefore,the resulting DS_TC_priority 208 for thread contexts 0 through 4 are:1110, 1110, 1111, 1111, and 1111, respectively. Consequently, theselection logic 202 selects thread context 2 for instruction dispatchbecause it has the greatest or equal DS_TC_priority 208. Morespecifically, thread context 2 is the highest thread context in theinstruction selection logic 202 mux tree (i.e., it has the right-mostbit in the NSE vector 2004) that has the greatest or equalDS_TC_priority 208. It is noted that although all thread contexts areenabled and all are at the same PM_TC_priority 652, thread context 2 isselected because it is the next thread context in left-rotativeround-robin order from the last selected thread context (which wasthread context 1) at the highest enabled PM_TC_priority 652 level.

Referring now to FIG. 22B, a block diagram illustrating a second exampleof operation of the dispatch scheduler 602 employing the round-robingenerators 2006 of FIG. 20 according the present invention is shown.FIG. 22B is similar to FIG. 22A; however, the input conditions aredifferent. In the example of FIG. 22B, the E vector 1646 value is 11011,i.e., thread context 2 is disabled for dispatching an instruction.

Given the inputs just described, the round-robin generators 2006generate an NSE vector 2004 for PM_TC_priority 652 levels 3 through 0with a value of 11100, 11000, 11111, and 11110, respectively, indicatingthat thread contexts 2, 3, 0, and 1, respectively, are the next threadcontext in round-robin order for dispatch within PM_TC_priority 652levels 3 through 0, respectively.

Because all the thread contexts are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3, thecorresponding muxes 1608 select the corresponding bit of the NSE vector2004 of PM_TC_priority 652 level 3. Consequently, the round-robin bit748 for thread contexts 0 through 4 are 0, 0, 1, 1, and 1, respectively.Therefore, the resulting DS_TC_priority 208 for thread contexts 0through 4 are: 1110, 1110, 0111, 1111, and 1111, respectively.Consequently, the selection logic 202 selects thread context 3 forinstruction dispatch because it is the highest thread context in theinstruction selection logic 202 mux tree that has the greatest or equalDS_TC_priority 208. It is noted that although thread context 2 is alsoat PM_TC_priority 652 level 3 and has its round-robin bit 748 set and ishigher in the instruction selection logic 202 mux tree, it is notselected because it is not enabled.

Referring now to FIG. 22C, a block diagram illustrating a third exampleof operation of the dispatch scheduler 602 employing the round-robingenerators 2006 of FIG. 20 according the present invention is shown.FIG. 22C is similar to FIG. 22B; however, the input conditions aredifferent: thread contexts 3 and 4 are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 2instead of level 3.

Given the inputs to FIG. 22C, the round-robin generators 2006 generatean NSE vector 2004 for PM_TC_priority 652 levels 3 through 0 with avalue of 11100, 11000, 11111, and 11110, respectively, indicating thatthread contexts 2, 3, 0, and 1, respectively, are the next threadcontext in round-robin order for dispatch within PM_TC_priority 652levels 3 through 0, respectively.

Because thread contexts 0, 1, and 2, are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3,the corresponding muxes 1608 select the corresponding bit of the NSEvector 2004 of PM_TC_priority 652 level 3; because thread contexts 3 and4 are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 2, the corresponding muxes 1608 selectthe corresponding bit of the NSE vector 2004 of PM_TC_priority 652 level2. Consequently, the round-robin bit 748 for thread contexts 0 through 4are 0, 0, 1, 1, and 1, respectively. Therefore, the resultingDS_TC_priority 208 for thread contexts 0 through 4 are: 1110, 1110,0111, 1101, and 1101, respectively. Consequently, the selection logic202 selects thread context 0 for instruction dispatch because it is thehighest thread context in the instruction selection logic 202 mux treethat has the greatest or equal DS_TC_priority 208. It is noted thatalthough thread context 2 is also at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3 and hasits round-robin bit 748 set and is higher in the instruction selectionlogic 202 mux tree, it is not selected because it is not enabled.Furthermore, although thread contexts 3 and 4 also have theirround-robin bits 748 set and are enabled, they are at PM_TC_priority 652level 2, which is lower than thread context 0, which is atPM_TC_priority 652 level 3.

Referring now to FIG. 22D, a block diagram illustrating a fourth exampleof operation of the dispatch scheduler 602 employing the round-robingenerators 2006 of FIG. 20 according the present invention is shown.FIG. 22D is similar to FIG. 22C; however, the input conditions aredifferent: the L vector 1602 for PM_TC_priority 652 level 3 is 00001,indicating that thread context 0 was the last thread context dispatchedat PM_TC_priority 652 level 3, rather than thread context 1 as in FIG.22C.

Given the inputs to FIG. 22D, the round-robin generators 2006 generatean NSE vector 2004 for PM_TC_priority 652 levels 3 through 0 with avalue of 11110, 11000, 11111, and 11110, respectively, indicating thatthread contexts 1, 3, 0, and 1, respectively, are the next threadcontext in round-robin order for dispatch within PM_TC_priority 652levels 3 through 0, respectively.

Because thread contexts 0, 1, and 2, are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 3,the corresponding mux 1608 for each selects the corresponding bit of theNSE vector 2004 of PM_TC_priority 652 level 3; because thread contexts 3and 4 are at PM_TC_priority 652 level 2, the corresponding mux 1608 foreach selects the corresponding bit of the NSE vector 2004 ofPM_TC_priority 652 level 2. Consequently, the round-robin bit 748 forthread contexts 0 through 4 are 0, 1, 1, 1, and 1, respectively.Therefore, the resulting DS_TC_priority 208 for thread contexts 0through 4 are: 1110, 1111, 0111, 1101, and 1101, respectively.Consequently, the selection logic 202 selects thread context 1 forinstruction dispatch because it is the highest thread context in theinstruction selection logic 202 mux tree that has the greatest or equalDS_TC_priority 208. It is noted that although thread context 2 is alsoat PM_TC_priority 652 level 3 and is enabled, its round-robin bit 748 isclear, whereas the round-robin bit 748 for thread context 1 is set,which causes the instruction selection logic 202 to select threadcontext 1 for dispatch.

Referring now to FIG. 23, a block diagram illustrating a round-robinmultithreaded fetch director 2300 for operation in the instructionfetcher 104 of FIG. 1 according to the present invention is shown. Thefetch director 2300 incorporates a barrel-incrementer-based round-robingenerator 2306 similar to the round-robin generators 1606 of thedispatch scheduler 602 of FIG. 17. As discussed above, themicroprocessor 100 concurrently fetches instructions from theinstruction cache 102 of FIG. 1 for each thread context that is enabledfor execution.

Each thread context includes a program counter (PC) register that storesthe address of the next instruction in the thread of execution. Theupper portion of the address stored in the program counter register is afetch address 2356 used to fetch instruction bytes from the instructioncache 102. For example, in one embodiment the size of a cache line is 32bytes, and the fetch address 2356 comprises all of the program counteraddress bits except the lower 5 bits. The fetch address 2356 of each ofthe thread contexts is provided to a mux 2372 of the fetch director2300. Each clock cycle, the fetch director 2300 mux 2372 selects one ofthe thread context fetch addresses 2356 to provide to the instructioncache 102 to select a cache line of instruction bytes. In oneembodiment, the fetch director 2300 fetches two instructions for theselected thread context per fetch cycle; however, the fetch director2300 is adaptable to fetch more or less instructions each cycle asrequired by the design of the microprocessor 100.

In the embodiment of FIG. 23, the mux 2372 is a 1-hot mux. A 1-hot muxis a mux that receives a decoded version of a select control signal suchthat there is one select signal per data input, and only one of theselect input bits can be true, and the true select bit selects itscorresponding data input for the output. The select control signalreceived by the mux 2372 is a 1-hot N vector 2304 similar to the Nvector 1604 of FIG. 16. In particular, the N vector 2304 is an n-bitvector, where n is the number of thread contexts, and each of the threadcontexts has a corresponding bit in the N vector 2304, and only one bitof the N vector 2304 is set corresponding to the thread context selectednext for instruction fetching.

The fetch director 2300 receives an L vector 2302. The L vector 2302 issimilar to the L vector 1602 of FIG. 16. In particular, the L vector2302 is an n-bit vector, where n is the number of thread contexts, andeach of the thread contexts has a corresponding bit in the L vector2302, and only one bit of the L vector 2302 is set corresponding to thethread context last selected for instruction fetching.

The fetch director 2300 also includes two sets of inverters 2316 and2318, a barrel-incrementer 2312, and a set of AND gates 2314, similar toinverters 1716 and 1718, barrel-incrementer 1712, and AND gates 1714,respectively, of FIG. 17. The barrel-incrementer 2312 may be configuredaccording to any of the embodiments of FIGS. 18A through 18D.

The first set of inverters 2318 receive the L vector 2302 and generatean n-bit ˜L vector 2392. The second set of inverters 2316 receive ann-bit E vector 2346 and generate an n-bit ˜E vector 2396. The E vector2346 is similar to the E vector 1646 of FIG. 17, except that the Evector 2346 of FIG. 23 indicates that the corresponding thread contextis enabled for instruction fetching, rather than that the correspondingthread context is enabled for instruction dispatching. Although themicroprocessor 100 includes hardware to support multiple threadcontexts, fewer than all of the thread contexts may be allocated andenabled for execution by software at a given time. For example, when themicroprocessor 100 is reset, initially only one thread context isallocated and enabled for execution. In one embodiment, a thread contextdoes not request instruction fetching (i.e., its respective E vector2346 bit is not set) if it is not enabled for execution or if itsinstruction buffer 106 of FIG. 1 is full. In one embodiment, a threadcontext does not request instruction fetching if the most recent fetchfor the thread context caused a miss in the instruction cache 102 andthe missing cache line has not yet been filled.

The barrel-incrementer 2312 receives the L vector 2302, the ˜L vector2392, and the ˜E vector 2396. The barrel-incrementer 2312 generates an Svector 2364, which is the sum of the L vector 2302 rotated left 1-bitand the Boolean AND of the ˜E vector 2396 and the ˜L vector 2392,according to the two embodiments of FIGS. 18A and 18B; alternatively,the barrel-incrementer 2312 generates an S vector 2364, which is the sumof the L vector 2302 rotated left 1-bit and the ˜E vector 2396,according to the two embodiments of FIGS. 18C and 18D.

The AND gates 2314 perform the Boolean AND of the S vector 2364 and theE vector 2346 to generate the N vector 2304, which is provided as the1-hot select control input for the 1-hot mux 2372.

As may be observed, the fetch director 2300 advantageously selects amongthe thread contexts for instruction fetching in a fair round-robinmanner, and allows for disabled states (i.e., not all thread contextsmay be enabled to request instruction fetching each selection cycle),and yet has complexity n, wherein n is the number of thread contexts,rather than complexity n², as in a conventional round-robin circuitsupporting a variable number of enabled requestors. Advantageously, thefetch director 2300 scales linearly with the number of thread contexts,which may be of substantial importance in a microprocessor 100 thatsupports a relatively large number of thread contexts.

In one embodiment, the fetch director 2300 is pipelined to enable anincrease in the clock frequency of the microprocessor 100. Inparticular, a register is coupled between the output of AND gate 2314and the select control input of 1-hot mux 2372 for receiving the Nvector 2304 from the AND gate 2314 during one clock cycle and providingthe N vector 2304 to the 1-hot mux 2372 on the next clock cycle. In thisembodiment, under some circumstances the access of the instruction cache102 is aborted during the second cycle. For example, if the fetchdirector 2300 receives a late indication that the previous fetch of theinstruction cache 102 for the thread context selected by the N vector2304 caused a miss in the instruction cache 102, then the fetch director2300 will abort the instruction cache 102 access. In one embodiment, theoutput of the register provides the L vector 1602 to the round-robingenerator 2306.

In one embodiment, the N vector 2304, in addition to selecting a fetchaddress 2356 for provision to the instruction cache 102, is also used toselect one of a plurality of nano-TLBs (translation lookaside buffers)associated with the thread contexts in a hierarchical TLB system, suchas the TLB system described in related U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/075,041, entitled THREE-TIERED TRANSLATION LOOKASIDE BUFFER HIERARCHYIN A MULTITHREADING MICROPROCESSOR, having at least one common inventorand which is assigned to common assignee MIPS Technologies, Inc., andwhich is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.

Referring now to FIG. 24, a block diagram illustrating a round-robinmultithreaded return data selector 2400 for operation in the write-backstage 116, execution pipeline 114, and/or register files 112 of FIG. 1according to the present invention is shown. The return data selector2400 incorporates a barrel-incrementer-based round-robin generator 2406.As discussed above, the microprocessor 100 may include a plurality ofexecution units 114, such as one or more multiply-divide units,floating-point units, load-store units, single instruction multiple data(SIMD) units, and/or coprocessors, that concurrently executeinstructions of the multiple thread contexts to generate instructionresults or data 2456. The various data 2456 from the functional unitsare provided back to the integer pipeline of the microprocessor 100. Inone embodiment, the write-back stage 116 provides the various data 2456from the functional units to the integer pipeline of the microprocessor100. In one embodiment, the various data 2456 from the functional unitsare provided back to the register files 112.

The data 2456 of each of the functional units is provided to a mux 2472of the return data selector 2400. Each clock cycle, the return dataselector 2400 mux 2472 selects the data 2456 of one of the threadcontexts to output to one input of a second mux 2474. In one embodiment,the integer pipeline also generates its own data 2454 that is providedas an input to the second mux 2474. If the integer pipeline has validdata 2454 to return, the second mux 2474 selects the integer pipelinedata 2454 for its output 2452; otherwise, the second mux 2474 selectsthe data output by the first mux 2472, which is the selected data 2456from the other functional units.

In the embodiment of FIG. 24, the mux 2472 is a 1-hot mux. The selectcontrol signal received by the mux 2472 is a 1-hot N vector 2404 similarto the N vector 2304 of FIG. 23. In particular, the N vector 2404 is ann-bit vector, where n is the number of functional units, and each of thefunctional units has a corresponding bit in the N vector 2404, and onlyone bit of the N vector 2404 is set corresponding to the functional unitselected for returning its data 2456 to the integer pipeline.

The return data selector 2400 also includes a third mux 2422 and aregister 2424, which are similar to mux 2102 and register 2124 of FIG.21. The mux 2422 receives as its two inputs an L vector 2402 and theoutput of register 2424. The L vector 2402 is similar to the L vector2302 of FIG. 23. In particular, the L vector 2402 is an n-bit vector,where n is the number of functional units, and each of the functionalunits has a corresponding bit in the L vector 2402, and only one bit ofthe L vector 2402 is set corresponding to the functional units lastselected for returning its data 2456 to the integer pipeline. Theregister 2424 receives and stores the output of the mux 2422. The mux2422 also receives a result_returned control signal 2458 that is true ifdata 2456 of one of the functional units is returned during the currentreturn cycle; otherwise, the result_returned control signal 2458 isfalse. The mux 2422 selects the L vector 2402 input if theresult_returned control signal 2458 is true; otherwise, the mux 2422selects the register 2424 output. Thus, mux 2422 and register 2424 workin combination to retain the old L vector 2402 value until data 2456 isreturned by one of the functional units to the integer pipeline by thereturn data selector 2400. In particular, if mux 2452 selects data 2454from the integer pipeline, then the result_returned signal 2458 isfalse, which causes the register 2424 to retain the old L vector 2402value. Thus, advantageously, round-robin order is retained among thevarious functional units.

The fetch director 2400 also includes two sets of inverters 2416 and2418, a barrel-incrementer 2412, and a set of AND gates 2414, similar toinverters 2316 and 2318, barrel-incrementer 2312, and AND gates 2314,respectively, of FIG. 23. The barrel-incrementer 2412 may be configuredaccording to any of the embodiments of FIGS. 18A through 18D.

The first set of inverters 2418 receive the L vector 2402 output fromthe register 2424 and generate an n-bit ˜L vector 2492. The second setof inverters 2416 receive an n-bit E vector 2446 and generate an n-bit˜E vector 2496. The E vector 2446 is similar to the E vector 2346 ofFIG. 23, except that the E vector 2446 of FIG. 24 indicates that thecorresponding functional unit has valid data 2456 to return to theinteger pipeline, rather than that a thread context is enabled forinstruction fetching.

The barrel-incrementer 2412 receives the L vector 2402, the ˜L vector2492, and the ˜E vector 2496. The barrel-incrementer 2412 generates an Svector 2464, which is the sum of the L vector 2402 rotated left 1-bitand the Boolean AND of the ˜E vector 2496 and the ˜L vector 2492,according to the two embodiments of FIGS. 18A and 18B; alternatively,the barrel-incrementer 2412 generates an S vector 2464, which is the sumof the L vector 2402 rotated left 1-bit and the ˜E vector 2496,according to the two embodiments of FIGS. 18C and 18D.

The AND gates 2414 perform the Boolean AND of the S vector 2464 and theE vector 2446 to generate the N vector 2404, which is provided as the1-hot select control signal for the 1-hot mux 2472.

As may be observed, the return data selector 2400 advantageously selectsamong the thread contexts for returning data to the integer pipeline ina fair round-robin manner, and allows for disabled states (i.e., not allfunctional units may have valid data to be returned to the integerpipeline each selection cycle), and yet has complexity n, wherein n isthe number of functional units, rather than complexity n², as in aconventional round-robin circuit supporting a variable number of enabledrequesters. Advantageously, the return data selector 2400 scaleslinearly with the number of functional units, which may be ofsubstantial importance in a microprocessor 100 that supports arelatively large number of functional units.

Referring now to FIG. 25, a block diagram illustrating a round-robinmultithreaded fetch director 2500 for operation in the instructionfetcher 104 of FIG. 1 according to an alternate embodiment of thepresent invention is shown. The fetch director 2500 of FIG. 25 isdifferent from the fetch director 2300 of FIG. 23 in that the fetchdirector 2500 of FIG. 25 prioritizes the thread contexts for fetchingbased on various criteria. In one embodiment, the thread contexts areprioritized in one of three priorities. The highest priority includesthread contexts having an empty instruction buffer 106 of FIG. 1; themiddle priority is occupied, if at all, by the thread context that waslast dispatched for execution by the dispatch scheduler 602 and not lastselected for fetching by the fetch director 2500; the lowest priority isoccupied by all other thread contexts. In the embodiment of FIG. 25, thehighest priority is denoted priority 2, the middle priority is denotedpriority 1, and the lowest priority is denoted priority 0.

The fetch director 2500 includes a first round-robin generator 2506Aconfigured to generate a first N vector 2504A for fetch priority 2. Thefetch director 2500 also includes a second round-robin generator 2506Bconfigured to generate a second N vector 2504B for fetch priority 0. TheN vectors 2504A and 2504B are 1-hot vectors similar to the N vector 2304of FIG. 23. In particular, the N vectors 2504A and 2504B are n-bitvectors, where n is the number of thread contexts, and each of thethread contexts has a corresponding bit in the N vector 2504, and onlyone bit of the N vector 2504 is set corresponding to the thread contextselected next for instruction fetching at the respective fetch priority.In one embodiment, each of the round-robin generators 2506 is similar tothe round-robin generator 2306 of FIG. 23.

The first and second round-robin generators 2506 each receive an Lvector 2302 similar to like-number L vector 2302 of FIG. 23. Inparticular, the L vector 2302 is an n-bit vector, where n is the numberof thread contexts, and each of the thread contexts has a correspondingbit in the L vector 2302, and only one bit of the L vector 2302 is setcorresponding to the thread context last selected for instructionfetching. In the embodiment of FIG. 25, the L vector 2302 is provided onthe output of a register 2594.

The second round-robin generator 2506B also receives an E[0] vector 2346similar to like-numbered E vector 2346 of FIG. 23. In particular, if athread context's corresponding bit in the E[0] vector 2346 is set, thisindicates that the corresponding thread context is enabled forinstruction fetching. The first round-robin generator 2506A alsoreceives an E[2] vector 2546. If a thread context's corresponding bit inthe E[2] vector 2546 is set, this indicates that the correspondingthread context is enabled for instruction fetching and its respectiveinstruction buffer 106 is empty. The first and second round-robingenerators 2506 generate their respective N vectors 2504 based on theirrespective inputs.

The fetch director 2500 also includes a three-input mux 2596. The mux2596 receives the first N vector 2504A and the second N vector 2504B asdata inputs. The mux 2596 also receives a last_dispatched_TC vector2586. The last_dispatched_TC vector 2586 is an n-bit 1-hot vector whoseset bit indicates the thread context that was last dispatched forexecution. The mux 2596 selects one of its data inputs specified by aselection control fetch_priority signal 2584 generated by control logic2592. The output of mux 2596 is denoted fetch_TC signal 2588 and isprovided to the input of register 2594, which latches in the fetch_TC2588 value for provision as the L vector 2302 on the next clock. Thefetch_TC signal 2588 is a 1-hot vector having one bit set to indicatewhich TC is selected to fetch instructions next.

The control logic 2592 generates the fetch_priority 2584 based on threeinputs: the L vector 2302, the last_dispatched_TC vector 2586, and aninstruction_buffer_empty vector 2582 that indicates which of the threadcontexts, if any, have a respective instruction buffer 106 that isempty. In one embodiment, the instruction_buffer_empty signal 2582 is ann-bit vector comprising the empty signal 318 of FIG. 3 of each of thethread contexts. The fetch_priority 2584 indicates the highest of thethree fetch priorities that has at least one thread context satisfyingthe condition of the fetch priority. A TC satisfies the conditions offetch priority 2 if it has an empty instruction buffer 106 and isenabled for fetching (as indicated by the E[0] vector 2346). A TCsatisfies the conditions of fetch priority 1 if it was the threadcontext last dispatched for execution (as indicated bylast_dispatched_TC vector 2586), was not the last fetched thread context(as indicated by the L vector 2302), and is enabled for fetching (asindicated by the E[0] vector 2346). All other thread contexts that areenabled for fetching satisfy fetch priority 0. Advantageously, the firstround-robin generator 2506A causes the thread contexts within thehighest fetch priority to be fetched in a round-robin manner if multiplethread contexts satisfy the conditions of the highest fetch priority;and the second round-robin generator 2506A causes the thread contextswithin the lowest fetch priority to be fetched in a round-robin mannerif multiple thread contexts satisfy the conditions of the lowest fetchpriority.

The fetch director 2500 also includes a mux 2372 similar tolike-numbered mux 2372 of FIG. 23. Each clock cycle, the fetch director2500 mux 2372 selects one of the thread context fetch addresses 2356 toprovide to the instruction cache 102 to select a cache line ofinstruction bytes specified by the L vector 2302 of FIG. 25 similar tothe operation of mux 2372 of FIG. 23.

Although the present invention and its objects, features, and advantageshave been described in detail, other embodiments are encompassed by theinvention. For example, although embodiments have been described inwhich embodiments of a round-robin generator have been employed in adispatch scheduler, a fetch director, and/or a return data selector, theround-robin generator embodiments are not limited to those uses. On thecontrary, the round-robin generators may be employed in any applicationin which multiple requestors request access to a shared resource, andsome of the requesters may not be requesting each selection cycle, i.e.,may be disabled during the selection cycle. Furthermore, the round-robingenerators may be employed in applications in which each requestorrequests access at a priority level among multiple priority levels, andone of the multiple requesters at the highest priority level must bechosen in a fair manner. Furthermore, although round-robin generatorembodiments have been described that are built around abarrel-incrementer, and the barrel-incrementer has been described asusing particular types of adders, such as full-adders or half-adders ofvarious widths, the barrel-incrementer may be constructed using othertypes of adders and other widths. Finally, although embodiments havebeen described with four PM_TC_priority 652 levels, any number ofpriority levels may be employed.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled inthe relevant computer arts that various changes in form and detail canbe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

For example, in addition to using hardware (e.g., within or coupled to aCentral Processing Unit (“CPU”), microprocessor, microcontroller,digital signal processor, processor core, System on Chip (“SOC”), or anyother programmable device), implementations may also be embodied insoftware (e.g., computer readable code, program code, instructionsand/or data disposed in any form, such as source, object or machinelanguage) disposed, for example, in a computer usable (e.g., readable)medium configured to store the software. Such software can enable, forexample, the function, fabrication, modeling, simulation, descriptionand/or testing of the apparatus and methods described herein. Forexample, this can be accomplished through the use of general programminglanguages (e.g., C, C++), GDSII databases, hardware descriptionlanguages (HDL) including Verilog HDL, VHDL, and so on, or otheravailable programs, databases, and/or circuit (i.e., schematic) capturetools. Such software can be disposed in any known computer usable mediumincluding semiconductor, magnetic disk, optical disc (e.g., CD-ROM,DVD-ROM, etc.) and as a computer data signal embodied in a computerusable (e.g., readable) transmission medium (e.g., carrier wave or anyother medium including digital, optical, or analog-based medium). Assuch, the software can be transmitted over communication networksincluding the Internet and intranets.

It is understood that the apparatus and method described herein may beincluded in a semiconductor intellectual property core, such as amicroprocessor core (e.g., embodied in HDL) and transformed to hardwarein the production of integrated circuits. Additionally, the apparatusand methods described herein may be embodied as a combination ofhardware and software. Thus, the present invention should not be limitedby any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should bedefined only in accordance with the following claims and theirequivalents.

1. An apparatus for selecting one of N threads for fetching instructionsinto N respective instruction buffers from an instruction cache in amultithreading microprocessor that concurrently executes the N threads,the apparatus comprising: a first round-robin generator, having acircuit configured to receive a first N-bit value specifying which ofthe N threads was last selected to fetch instructions and a second N-bitvalue specifying if a corresponding one of the N threads is enabled forfetching and has an empty instruction buffer; and generate a firstround-robin indicator indicating a next one of the N threads inround-robin order which is enabled for fetching and has an emptyinstruction buffer; a second round-robin generator, having a circuitconfigured to receive a first N-bit value specifying which of the Nthreads was last selected to fetch instructions and a second N-bit valuespecifying if a corresponding one of the N threads is enabled forfetching; and generate a second round-robin indicator indicating a nextone of the N threads in round-robin order which is enabled for fetching;and a multiplexer, coupled to receive said first and second indicatorsand a selection control fetch priority signal generated by controllogic, and configured: to output said first indicator if at least one ofthe N threads is enabled for fetching and has an empty instructionbuffer; and to output said second indicator otherwise; wherein saidoutput indicates which of the N threads is selected for fetchinginstructions.
 2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, furthercomprising: a third indicator, for indicating one of the N threads, ifany, which is enabled for fetching, was last selected for dispatching aninstruction for execution, and was not last selected for fetching;wherein said multiplexer is further coupled to receive said thirdindicator, and configured: to output said first indicator if at leastone of the N threads is enabled for fetching and has an emptyinstruction buffer; to output said third indicator if none of the Nthreads is enabled for fetching and has an empty instruction buffer, andone of the N threads is enabled for fetching, was last selected fordispatching an instruction for execution, and was not last selected forfetching; and to output said second indicator otherwise.
 3. Theapparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising: a secondmultiplexer, coupled to receive said output of said first multiplexer asa select control input, further coupled to receive N fetch addresses ofthe respect N threads, and to select one of said N fetch addressesindicated by said output for provision as a fetch address to aninstruction cache of the microprocessor for fetching instructions therefrom.
 4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein one of the Nthreads is disabled for fetching if its respective instruction buffer isfull.
 5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein one of the Nthreads is disabled for fetching if the thread is disabled forexecution.
 6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein one of the Nthreads is disabled for fetching if the thread caused a miss in theinstruction cache and the missing data has not yet been filled in theinstruction cache.
 7. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein saidfirst round-robin generator comprises: a first input, for receiving saidfirst corresponding N-bit value specifying which of the N threads waslast selected to fetch instructions, wherein only one of said N bitscorresponding to said last selected thread is true; a second input, forreceiving said second corresponding N-bit value, each of said N bitsbeing false if said corresponding one of the N threads is enabled forfetching and has an empty instruction buffer; a barrel incrementer,coupled to receive said first and second inputs, configured to 1-bitleft-rotatively increment said second value by said first value togenerate a sum; and combinational logic, coupled to said barrelincrementer, configured to generate said first round-robin indicator,said first round-robin indicator comprising a Boolean AND of said sumand an inverted version of said second value, wherein only one of said Nbits is true.
 8. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein saidsecond round-robin generator comprises: a first input, for receivingsaid first corresponding N-bit value specifying which of the N threadswas last selected to fetch instructions, wherein only one of said N bitscorresponding to said last selected thread is true; a second input, forreceiving said second corresponding N-bit value, each of said N bitsbeing false if said corresponding one of the N threads is enabled forfetching; a barrel incrementer, coupled to receive said first and secondinputs, configured to 1-bit left-rotatively increment said second valueby said first value to generate a sum; and combinational logic, coupledto said barrel incrementer, configured to generate said secondround-robin indicator, said second round-robin indicator comprising aBoolean AND of said sum and an inverted version of said second value,wherein only one of said N bits is true.
 9. A method for selecting oneof N threads for fetching instructions into N respective instructionbuffers from an instruction cache in a multithreading microprocessorthat concurrently executes the N threads, the method comprising:generating a first round-robin indicator based on a first N-bit valuespecifying which of the N threads was last selected to fetchinstructions and a second N-bit value specifying if a corresponding oneof the N threads is enabled for fetching and has an empty instructionbuffer, the first round-robin indicator indicating a next one of the Nthreads in round-robin order which is enabled for fetching and has anempty instruction buffer; generating a second round-robin indicatorbased on a first N-bit value specifying which of the N threads was lastselected to fetch instructions and a second N-bit value specifying if acorresponding one of the N threads is enabled for fetching, the secondround-robin indicator indicating a next one of the N threads inround-robin order which is enabled for fetching; receiving a selectioncontrol fetch priority signal generated by control logic; and outputtingthe first indicator if at least one of the N threads is enabled forfetching and has an empty instruction buffer, and otherwise outputtingthe second indicator, to indicate which of the N threads is selected forfetching instructions.
 10. The method as recited in claim 9, furthercomprising: generating a third indicator indicating one of the Nthreads, if any, which is enabled for fetching, was last selected fordispatching an instruction for execution, and was not last selected forfetching; and outputting the first indicator if at least one of the Nthreads is enabled for fetching and has an empty instruction buffer;outputting the third indicator if none of the N threads is enabled forfetching and has an empty instruction buffer, and one of the N threadsis enabled for fetching, was last selected for dispatching aninstruction for execution, and was not last selected for fetching; andoutputting the second indicator otherwise.
 11. The method as recited inclaim 9, further comprising: selecting one of N fetch addresses of therespective N threads indicated by said outputting for provision as afetch address to an instruction cache of the microprocessor for fetchinginstructions therefrom.
 12. A computer program product for use with acomputing device, the computer program product comprising: a computerusable medium, having computer readable program code embodied in saidmedium, for causing an apparatus for selecting one of N threads forfetching instructions into N respective instruction buffers from aninstruction cache in a multithreading microprocessor that concurrentlyexecutes the N threads, said computer readable program code comprising:first program code for providing a first round-robin generator,configured to generate a first round-robin indicator based on a firstN-bit value specifying which of the N threads was last selected to fetchinstructions and a second N-bit value specifying if a corresponding oneof the N threads is enabled for fetching and has an empty instructionbuffer, the first round-robin indicator indicating a next one of the Nthreads in round-robin order which is enabled for fetching and has anempty instruction buffer; second program code for providing a secondround-robin generator, configured to generate a second round-robinindicator based on a first N-bit value specifying which of the N threadswas last selected to fetch instructions and a second N-bit valuespecifying if a corresponding one of the N threads is enabled forfetching, the second round-robin indicator indicating a next one of theN threads in round-robin order which is enabled for fetching; and thirdprogram code for providing a multiplexer, coupled to receive said firstand second indicators and a selection control fetch priority signalgenerated by control logic, and configured to output said firstindicator if at least one of the N threads is enabled for fetching andhas an empty instruction buffer, and to output said second indicatorotherwise, wherein said output indicates which of the N threads isselected for fetching instructions.
 13. The computer program product ofclaim 12, wherein said computer readable program code further comprises:fourth program code for providing a third indicator, for indicating oneof the N threads, if any, which is enabled for fetching, was lastselected for dispatching an instruction for execution, and was not lastselected for fetching; wherein said multiplexer is further coupled toreceive said third indicator, and configured to output said firstindicator if at least one of the N threads is enabled for fetching andhas an empty instruction buffer; to output said third indicator if noneof the N threads is enabled for fetching and has an empty instructionbuffer, and one of the N threads is enabled execution, and was not lastselected for fetching; and to output said second indicator otherwise.